Water is listed first because it is the most important!
Well, actually it's the second most important....oxygen would be the first!
So second best is water since our bodies can't go more than 3 days without clean water.
The average American family uses about 300 gallons of water a day. But water on the homestead is not only needed for humans, but for animals, gardens, fruit trees, etc. So that raises the question of how much water you actually need, and believe it or not, it's a lot!
We are two people so we will need approximately 100 gallons per day for both of us. We also plan on having about 20-25 chicken, ducks, and turkey so we will need about 2-3 gallons of water per day for all of them combined. If we add sheep we are looking at even more! Note that when it is hotter humans and animals will require extra water! And of course we plan to have very large gardens and a greenhouse that will require even more water so we needed to plan for a lot of storage and/or have several plentiful sources.
So second best is water since our bodies can't go more than 3 days without clean water.
The average American family uses about 300 gallons of water a day. But water on the homestead is not only needed for humans, but for animals, gardens, fruit trees, etc. So that raises the question of how much water you actually need, and believe it or not, it's a lot!
We are two people so we will need approximately 100 gallons per day for both of us. We also plan on having about 20-25 chicken, ducks, and turkey so we will need about 2-3 gallons of water per day for all of them combined. If we add sheep we are looking at even more! Note that when it is hotter humans and animals will require extra water! And of course we plan to have very large gardens and a greenhouse that will require even more water so we needed to plan for a lot of storage and/or have several plentiful sources.
There are four important things to consider when planning for water and you should have multiple ways of meeting each of these! Remember, redundancy is key to survival.....
Sources
Collection
Storage
Cleaning
Below you will find the multiple ways that we plan to be able to meet this necessity on our homestead!
Sources
Collection
Storage
Cleaning
Below you will find the multiple ways that we plan to be able to meet this necessity on our homestead!
WATER SOURCES
Lakes, Rivers, Streams, Springs
The location where we are building is literally within walking distance of several large lakes and rivers where water could be collected from if necessary.
We also have a small pond, a seasonal stream, and several springs on our 135 acres that we can draw from or incorporate into a watering hole for the animals.
We also have a small pond, a seasonal stream, and several springs on our 135 acres that we can draw from or incorporate into a watering hole for the animals.
Drilled Well (groundwater)
We chose to drill a well first thing on our land to make sure that we would always (there is always a chance a well will run dry) have plentiful amounts of water for drinking. Well water will generally be a lot cleaner than surface water.
The well also turned out to be seasonally artesian (and maybe yearly if we connect into it low enough) so we also have plans on being able to use that extra water that overflows either for watering the garden or for filling a small pond for the animals.
The well also turned out to be seasonally artesian (and maybe yearly if we connect into it low enough) so we also have plans on being able to use that extra water that overflows either for watering the garden or for filling a small pond for the animals.
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Rainwater
We do get a lot of rain here in Adirondacks (and snow in winter) so it makes sense to collect rainwater that flows off of roofs. The collected water would ultimately be used to water the gardens, a greenhouse, and provide water for the animals to drink. Of course, if necessary we could use it for us to drink as well (after filtering and cleaning!).
WATER COLLECTION
Lakes, Rivers, Streams, Springs
- "D" size Battery operated pump
- 12 Volt battery operated pump (works off the ATV battery)
- Small hand siphon
Note, that depending upon the source, you can literally scoop water out with a bucket or other container! Also note, that for us, this source is emergency use only since we have so many other sources of fresh water available.
Well Water
- Large house electric pump
- 12 volt battery operated pump (works off ATV battery like above)
- Pitcher Pump (note ours is black, not red)
- We also will run a pipe to collect the artesian water that will continue to flow out of the well seasonally
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Rainwater
Rainwater collection can be as simple as putting out buckets or a tarp to collect, to barrels at the bottom of the gutters on building to collect runoff.
We plan to use cisterns and barrels to collect what comes off of all the roofs on our homestead and it will be used for animals and gardens.
We certainly get plenty of rain here! In the videos below we show how we inadvertently collected rainwater, and pumping collected rain into our trailer!
We plan to use cisterns and barrels to collect what comes off of all the roofs on our homestead and it will be used for animals and gardens.
We certainly get plenty of rain here! In the videos below we show how we inadvertently collected rainwater, and pumping collected rain into our trailer!
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WATER STORAGE
For all Sources!
There are multiple ways to store water. We have used several methods over the years for our off grid trailer. These storage methods can be used to store any water that you can collect!
- buckets (not our favorite unless they have covers.
- 5 gallon water jugs (BPA free) and we would use a hand pump to transfer water
- For rainwater it will literally be stored in the container it is collected in: usually a barrel or cistern. We would prefer a cistern that could be buried so that it is protected and out of the way. A reused food storage container is what we have in mind.
- Drilled well is 680' deep so has a storage capacity of about 900 gallons! We won't be able to get water from that low, but our pump is going to be around 400 feet down and that will provide us quite a bit of water!
- Artesian well water will run into either a cistern, a pond, or both!
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WATER FILTRATION
There are multiple methods for cleaning and filtering, it just really depends upon what you are going to do with the water. If you really feel the water may be contaminated, I would simply avoid it unless it is an absolute emergency. I will talk about that a little further down. Here is what we do for our water:
- Berkey Filter - All our drinking water goes through a Berkey. We have been using it for years, even when we had 'city' water we used the black filters to filter out the chlorine, lead, and rust. On our homestead we will add the white filters as well to filter our well water. Why? Because better safe than sorry!
- Chlorine & Iodine - Depending upon the source of the water, if you're going to use it for humans, sometimes it is necessary to add a little chlorine (or iodine) just in case. We always add a few drops of chlorine to our water going into our RV even though we don't drink it because we do brush our teeth and shower in it.
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WATER ON THE GO
I would be remiss if I did not mention water on the go...to us that means any time leave the house: be it in the car, going for a hike or walk, and/or any time go out on the ATV's or snowmobiles. Basically if we are not home, we need to always have a source of water with us. We each have 32 oz water bottles we take literally everywhere (and we drink about three of these a day!). If we go hiking or on a longer trek, we have larger containers we bring. We also have what is called a life straw that we can use to drink literally out of a puddle if necessary because it filters the water as you drink it!
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