Did you install your own septic?

[Amanda_931]

Not much rainfall = what to you?

Apparently the Earthships^t/_m owners can live, not lavishly, but adequately, on 7 inches a year.  They try to re-use their water three times.  But they do have flush toilets.

And really huge cisterns.  And peculiar things like butterfly roofs that let almost none of the rain spill out on the ground.

[BuckiSchloo]

I didn't want to completely discourage drilling your own well, I just wanted everyone to understand the limitations of the Hydra Drill type of equipment that I encountered in my experience. Even though it didn't work out for me, it is possible. Caving in of the sand can be controlled by drilling mud. I would agree that gravel would be a challenge. I wouldn't plan on going over 100' with such a rig. There are other types of drilling (cable tool) that may be better suited for those conditions. I would see how other wells are being drilled in the area.

I think if I had more time, I would have been able to do it, but I live 350 miles from the property, so I only had my one or two weeks of vacation time to do it in. A 50' two inch well would have been pretty straight forward. The county requirements made it more complicated, 5" casing, 50' minimum, grouting .... My old well was 25' driven 2" pipe, worked fine for 40+ years.

I'll say it again, it is a lot of hard work. There are also other alternatives for water as discussed on this site. This is a great site!