Before you build your house or drill your well, plan your water supply. A house is worth little without an adequate supply of good quality water, which may be found where you had hoped to build the front steps! Can an adequate groundwater supply even be developed at the property? If not, what are the alternatives?
A day’s use may be concentrated into a period of one to two hours, often in different areas of the house at the same time (laundry, bathroom, and kitchen). The water supply system must be able to meet this type of peak demand. A conservative estimate is that a home will need about 150-300 gallons per day for two to four people to meet all these needs. Attention should be given to choices of landscaping to be sustainable in a particular place, and alternatives to pumping groundwater, such as rainwater collection. Water conservation measures can reduce the need for water.
In addition to providing for regular household use, some energy-conscious homeowners install groundwater geothermal systems, which use the constant temperature of the ground for heat exchange in order to provide heating and cooling in the home. In recent years, many of these are designed as closed-circulating systems, so not constantly pumping fresh groundwater.
