Topic: Our water supply

[ceres]

Thought you might like to see the quaint way we get our water.  The cast iron pumps (with leather seals) aren't available in the UK any more and have to come from Eastern Europe.  We sink the pipes ourselves with a manual driver.  The water table is anything between about 12 and 18 feet down.  To get there we have to get through a hard pan of river gravel.

To use the pump, you prime it by pouring a pot of water into the top of the pump and start pumping slowly until you feel the water being pulled up.  We all have biceps like Rafa Nadal!  And we don't waste water 'cos you don't want to pump any more than you need on a hot day!

The pumps get taken off at the first frosts and go on again March-ish.

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[betula]

Great for burning off a few calories ;D

[lorna]

Ceres that reminds me of when I was evacuated to a farm in Devon, I was 6. We had to pump the water up to the bungalow, had a big marker board in the kitchen which told us that we had better get pumping. :)

[artichoke]

And I grew up in a small Scottish village, and was regularly sent to a neighbour's pump to prime it and pump a pail full of drinking water, as our well water was not good enough for drinking.

The well was used for washing up and baths, etc, and the taps would only run if the tank in the roof was full - we filled it by working a handpump inside the cottage. All of us took a turn, and it was very exciting if during your turn the overflow pipe started dripping because it meant the tank was full....