Can you get your own water borehole
With the cost of living crisis continuing to bite, homeowners and businesses alike are looking for new ways to lower their bills.
A private water borehole could help you reduce or even eliminate your water bill; but can you get one? And more importantly, should you get one?
Here’s 4 things to consider before trying to set up your own private water supply; but first, a quick explanation…
What is a borehole?
A borehole (aka a drilled well) is simply a narrow hole drilled into the ground, typically used to extract natural resources beneath the surface.
Some boreholes are used to collect oil or natural gas, while others are water boreholes (aka waterwell boreholes); used to collect (or ‘abstract’) fresh water from the ground.
In our last blog, we talked about how water flows beneath the surface of the earth as groundwater[link to last blog when it’s uploaded]. This groundwater collects in underground reservoirs called aquifers, and it’s from these aquifers that we can abstractwater with the use of a borehole.
Most boreholes are fitted with a metal or PVC casing to prevent the hole from collapsing, and many water boreholes are fitted with their own pump to extract the groundwater; but some borehole wells don’t require any pumping at all.
The pressure from the aquifer alone is enough to bring the water to the surface. These are known as artesian boreholes (or artesian wells).
What are the advantages of using a water borehole?
Water boreholes are often the easiest water supply solution for rural locations – and sometimes the only option for particularly remote areas – but they’re also becoming more common in urban areas too.
Why? Well, there’s a number of reasons:
A borehole gives you free access to your own private water supply, which can lower or even eliminate your water bills.
(You’ll need to deal with the costs of installation and upkeep, and there are limits on how much water you can abstract per day before you’ll need a license; but we’ll go over these in a minute.)
Having your own water supply can also help you minimise your carbon footprint. Public water companies consume a lot of energy in the process of treating their water and pumping it through water networks to their customers’ properties (which might be located several miles away).
With a private water borehole, the water only needs to be pumped a matter of metres from the borehole to the surface (or not at all for artesian wells) and can be treated on a smaller, more energy-efficient scale.
Plus, water boreholes can be combined with ground source heat pump technology; enabling you to not only extract water, but also extract heat from the borehole (which will reduce your home’s heating carbon footprint too).
And crucially, while borehole extractions should be carefully managed to prevent aquifer depletion, a well-designed water borehole won’t usually be affected by drought conditions, and won’t be subject to hosepipe bans and other temporary restrictions and shutdowns that can affect mains water supplies.
For this reason, many businesses (including industrial sites and agricultural facilities) use private commercial boreholes to ensure the water supply to their premises remains uninterrupted.
Is a private water supply right for you?
As you can see, a private borehole can offer a range of benefits for homeowners and businesses alike; but before you start drilling, there’s a few things you should consider first.
Location suitability
For some areas, groundwater aquifers can be reached at a borehole depth of just 30 to 60 metres.
For others, you may end up drilling hundreds of metres down before you strike water. Deeper boreholes mean higher installation costs, and potentially higher energy bills for pumping the water to the surface.
Of course, you’ll need to ensure that your local aquifer can provide enough water to meet the water demands of your premises.
You should also be concerned about whether your premises might present a water contamination risk. The location of your borehole needs to be carefully planned to avoid things like septic tanks, silage effluent and slurry.
Be sure to talk to a borehole expert, who can carry out a full geological and hydrological survey to see if your location is suitable for a borehole installation.
Drinking water borehole Permission and licenses
Assuming you’re the landowner, you won’t usually need to secure planning permission or building regulations approval to drill a borehole on your own land.
However, be sure to check with your local authorities. Depending on your circumstances, there may be some additional paperwork hoops you’ll need to jump through, as well as local restrictions to watch out for.
And a word of warning for commercial boreholes in particular; if you’re planning on abstracting more than 20,000 litres a day, you’ll also need to apply for a water abstraction license with the Environment Agency.
You might also need to apply for a separate ‘consent to investigate a groundwater source’ before you go poking around in the ground in search of an aquifer.
Borehole Installation costs
As we’ve already touched upon, installing a borehole can get expensive, and the cost can vary wildly depending on:
- how far you’ll need to drill down to reach an aquifer,
- the subsequent length of the borehole casing
- whether or not you’ll need to install a pump, and/or
- whether you’ll need to install additional water purification tech as well.
While a borehole may lower your bills in the long run, be aware that setting one up will likely set you back at least £10,000.
Take a moment to calculate how much water you’re going to need. This will help you identify whether a borehole is financially feasible, or if you’re better off sticking with mains water supplies instead.
Water testing
As we’ve stressed in previous article Six of the biggest risk areas for Legionellas here at Dynamika, maintaining water safety is vital for protecting our health.
We’ll be covering the rules on private water supply testing in more detail in a future article; but in short, if you’re using your water for a commercial or public activity, you’ll need to arrange regular testing to ensure the water is safe to use.
If your borehole is only being used to supply water to your own home, there’s no legal requirement to have it tested. Still, it’s strongly recommended to arrange testing at least once every five years; to detect and tackle any bugs, chemicals and other contaminants that might pose a risk to your health.
Dynamika can provide regular private water supply testing and disinfection; helping homeowners stay safe and helping businesses meet their legal obligations for water safety. For more info, or to arrange a consultation, call us on 03333 22 0800 today.