# Deposit Water



## rafsanjani (Oct 6, 2013)

Hi everyone, I have been looking at certain properties and have come across trms such as "deposit water" which could be either someone leaves you the water outside in a bucket or maybe, which is more likely there is a well, however, I do not know for sure can any one give me a heads up and pro's/cons on using a well for water.

Also, it is advertising solar power and generator fed services again, I have never lived with these services and am ignorant as to the drawbacks/benefits of relying on said services.

All info gratefully received, thanks, Rob lane:


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

rafsanjani said:


> Hi everyone, I have been looking at certain properties and have come across trms such as "deposit water" which could be either someone leaves you the water outside in a bucket or maybe, which is more likely there is a well, however, I do not know for sure can any one give me a heads up and pro's/cons on using a well for water.
> 
> Also, it is advertising solar power and generator fed services again, I have never lived with these services and am ignorant as to the drawbacks/benefits of relying on said services.
> 
> All info gratefully received, thanks, Rob lane:


It could be water from a well or it could come from a 'deposito', that is, a concrete storage facility filled by rain or some other means.

You need to ask a direct question - 'does it have mains water?'

Provided the well is registered and legal then it will be fine.

With solar power, you need to have a generator as back up. You will also have to be very organised as to when you use certain machinery (washer, iron, kettle etc.). It may be that the installation is large enough not to have to worry. I seem to recall that the batteries need replacing regularly (not sure how many years they last).


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

If you want to use the water in the well for household use, one can get it tested for purity at your local chemist


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## Lolito (Aug 25, 2012)

Most houses here got that too, but in most cases it is a pool (swimming pool), apparently years ago you could not have permission for a pool but you could have it for a 'water deposit'. So people would build 'water deposits' that were proper pools, but overground. But he also has a 'water deposit' to store rain water and use it, it could be anything really, you'll need to ask.

Most rustic houses do have a well, with irrigation system (aguja too), so he can fill in the 'water deposit' every day if he wanted to. He has a system installed, (bomba), to get the water running all over the orange groves with little effort.

To drink it, that's another story but you can get it tested, but we do buy bottled water, so it wouldn't be much of a problem. However, it is perfectly normal for houses to have both system, ground and mains water, you can ask the vendors/estate agents. 

I much rather buy a house with its own water system coming from the grounds, you save a lot in water bills. However, solar panels and generators would put me off a bit.


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## davexf (Jan 26, 2009)

Hola

Firstly Solar power is expensive to install (for a useful system), and my information says the running costs far outweigh mains electric over the life of the batteries. A new system is 20,000€ for a three bedroomed house - anything less means you run the generator. Some generators are quiet and some run on gas. So my thought is lots of investigation and more questions for this forum when you find more information. 

In mountainous areas there is a watering system (Acequia?) which many locals may drink. In my area there are 14,000 illegal wells - so no-one turns a hair. But in other areas it matters.

Davexf


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## olivefarmer (Oct 16, 2012)

My advice.

Buy a property with mains water and mains electric. neither will be dependable however outages will be minimal.

Living off grid is harder than people think. We contemplated it and I thank the God that we never did.

Wells can just run dry. Generators blow up. Solar sounds great but the running costs can be high and you have to organise your life around limited electric. e.g. Washing machine is on so no electric kettle.

The best bet is to get a property with irrigation water and mains. If it is a legal well it will have a tamper proof meter . Just ask when it was installed and divide that by number of years to see how many cubic metres they have extracted. Not failsafe but .......... I know of wells that if switched off deliver a reasonable amount first use and then dry up. If buying ask them to switch well on and view property and then switch off only at end of viewing.....

Mains water is pence here compared to Britain. For a household bargain on 800 litres a day average over a year. More if you have baths and irriate. Irrigation can use fantastic amounts


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## rafsanjani (Oct 6, 2013)

*deposit water*

So pleased I registered on your site, fantastic info and really appreciate the time everyone has taken to reply to my thread, beers all round when we finally arrive. I think the consensus is that off grid can be quite challenging and although I like a challenge I think there will be many without adding several more, again, many thanks for all the info, regards, Rob


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## Relyat (Sep 29, 2013)

I stayed on an urbanisation somewhere last week that had a water deposit.

Essentially it is a large concrete storage from which the water flows to the properties. This central tank is topped up as and when required by a supplier. He bills the community and they each pay their share based on their individual meter readings. They are not in any hurry to get mains water as it would cost more, but they do have to keep an eye on the level in the tank and arrange to be refilled in time to avoid running out; particularly at this time of year when people are refilling pools.


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

are there any any problems putting in rain water tanks in rural areas, Also I was wondering about solar power, here on the darling downs, the town water will turn your stomache, and with the floods it is not very reliable, so many properties like us only use rain water 24/7, its problem free , we are also totally solar powered, and have a small gas generator, as are most of our neighbours, yes it was expensive to set up , but after the first couple of years it had really paid for itself,and it added value to the property when we put it up for sale.


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## olivefarmer (Oct 16, 2012)

Nignoy said:


> are there any any problems putting in rain water tanks in rural areas, Also I was wondering about solar power, here on the darling downs, the town water will turn your stomache, and with the floods it is not very reliable, so many properties like us only use rain water 24/7, its problem free , we are also totally solar powered, and have a small gas generator, as are most of our neighbours, yes it was expensive to set up , but after the first couple of years it had really paid for itself,and it added value to the property when we put it up for sale.


Rainwater tanks. You would have to get permission which shouldn't be too much of a problem. To be of any use they would have to hold an enormous amount particularly if you were irrigating anything. Without irrigation you will be using between 500 and 1000 litres a day depending on size of family and your appliances. It rains very little between April and September. As a rough guide a tank for 1000 litres is about 100 euros. As they get bigger you do get a reduction in price but I am still staggered at the price of the large tanks. We have family in Perth area and they have three huge water tanks that serve them well each year.


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## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

*Water*



olivefarmer said:


> Rainwater tanks. You would have to get permission which shouldn't be too much of a problem. To be of any use they would have to hold an enormous amount particularly if you were irrigating anything. Without irrigation you will be using between 500 and 1000 litres a day depending on size of family and your appliances. It rains very little between April and September. As a rough guide a tank for 1000 litres is about 100 euros. As they get bigger you do get a reduction in price but I am still staggered at the price of the large tanks. We have family in Perth area and they have three huge water tanks that serve them well each year.


we have a100000 litre tank and 2x 50000 litre tanks , we have 998sqm of garden and lawns, and we have black soil and laterite which shrink when drying out, we water all year round , we can get get a years supply of rain in 24 hours which can fill the big tank to over flowing our roof catchment is180sqms on the house and 85 sqms on the shed (yes it is a big shed!!) once we settle in spain we would like to put in the same type of system we are even thinking of shipping the pumps and filter system over from here


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