Playing In The Water
For the past almost 15 years I have lived in this house in Great Falls, VA. I love my house. I love its location. I love the trees. I love the large lot. I do NOT, however, love the water.
I live less than 15 miles from Georgetown University. We are bordered by Reston, McLean, Vienna, etc. However, we have a well 200 feet down and a septic system. Why? Because the powers that be felt that city water and sewer would promote too much development, something they don't want in order to keep these large lots, trees, etc.
That's the theory, at least. In reality, an open field across from my house was stacked with houses, on about 1/2 acre at most. McMansions are springing up on every inch of land. See previous rants on this situation. Yet, despite the fact that it takes more than well and septic to stop over development, nobody has yet decided to do something smart about the water.
"Gee, what's wrong with well water?" you might ask. Not much, if it's nice clean water that is coming up. But when it's full of metals, salts, and other crap, it tends to eat your pipes, your shower heads, your faucets, and everything else connected to water, leaving greenish blue stains just about everywhere. So then you purchase a water softening system. Every few years it gets eaten by the caustic water. And even when it's working properly, you can't drink the water that comes out of it because it tastes really nasty.
Also as part of having a well are all the lovely component parts that go with wells, such as a well pump, a pressure tank, all of the pipes connecting them, etc. I have already replaced the well pump, which is how I know it's 200 feet down. Today, we got to replace the pressure tank. The sweet and wonderful folk from Bell Pump and Well showed up and handily replaced said tank. While this is a very good thing, the new pressure tank increased the pressure to the already unhappy pipes. Of course, one of them broke.
The loving husband, Mr. Psycho Sensei, is currently worshipping at the Temple of the Home Despot, purchasing the appropriate pieces to fix said mess. Until the next time.