Foowah Ip wrote:
Could you tell the amount that you are spending for watering your
garden?
For gardeners using city water and sewer, could you estimate
annually how much you spend on watering the garden and how much extra
sewer fee because of that?
For gardeners using well water, any idea how much does it cost for
the electricity of the pump and the maintenance of the well annually?
The following is the dilemma that we are facing:
We are building a house on about an acre of property in New
Jersey(zoned 6), currently there is a well on the property, we are
wondering if we should keep it for gardening purpose only . City
water is available at the property and the new house will be connected
to it. The well testing report shows that the well is ok, with no
Ecoli but has Coliform, so a simple treatment of Chlorine is needed.
The township allows us to keep the well but under the condition that
there is no plumbing going into the new house from the well, so we
need to build a well house outside for the water tank and the switch
for the pump.
The cost to keep the well for irrigation for our case would be about
$4,200, which includes:
- Bring the well up to code(18" above ground)
- Building a well house
- Install new pump and water tank
- Lead the water and electricity lines from the well to the well house
- Chlorine treatment
The cost to abandon the well would be about $1,200, from a certified
well sealer.
Well, let's see. $1,200 to shut it down, or that same $1,200 plus
another $3,000 to make it usable. And that doesn't count the electricity
you would use to run the pump as you go.
You're in New Jersey, so let's say that you would be using the pump for,
oh, let's say six months of each year. I have no idea what they charge
you for water out there, so let's say you'd use $100 (because it's a
nice round number) a month of city water. (Remember that there are fixed
charges and usage charges on your water bill, and the fixed charges
aren't part of this math.) That means it would take 30 months to recoup
the difference. Toss in the electricity to round it up to 36 months, or
six years for you to break even -- assuming no maintenance is needed on
the pump.
If the amount of water usage charges are less than $100 a month, or if
you don't need to keep it up for 6 months a year, or if I didn't allow
enough for the electricity and other costs of running the pump (would
you have to pay for annual inspections, for example?), and that six year
estimate is too short. Maybe 10 years or more before it pays for itself.
Now you're getting out into the range when you might have to start
thinking about maintenance costs that'll take the break-even point out
even further.
My gut feeling is that once you plug in realistic numbers for you, the
break even point may be further out than you might live in the house, or
at least far enough out that it may be a concern. But if there are other
benefits, those may enter into the equation. As another poster
mentioned, there is that risk that there are other problems with what's
in the water, and you may not want to use it on your veggies or your
lawn. Or maybe the city water may not be as good as the well water. So
many other issues to consider.
But if you are just looking at the numbers, you may be better off asking
your neighbors about their water bills. My round number could be very,
very far off for your area.
--
Warren H.
==========
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Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
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