Pffffstt Says Our Water

Ok, I am really on the verge of a breakdown with our water.

For those that haven't been reading up, we have 2 cisterns in which we get our water from. A Cistern is a large, underground 'vat' that holds water. (Scary I say!) Our front one holds 8,000 gallons of water and is only filled with water by the 'water delivery man'. Our back cistern (as in, in the backyard!) holds 3,000 gallons and can take shipped in water, but it is also hooked up to underground pipes to allow intake of rain water. This is the 'green' version of the cistern ;) And yes, don't worry - we have filters and add all that good stuff to make it ok to shower in and cook with etc.

It is still hard water though which stinks because it takes me half and hour to brush my hair when I get out of the shower, it leaves nasty water stains the require me to constantly scrub the shower walls and if we don't flush one of the toilets on a regular basis, I am scrubbing that bowl out with bleach too.

Ok, anyways....I am getting off topic. We have been having problems with both the front and back cisterns. The front one, we believe, has some kind of crack near the intake line from the inside of the 'vat' and so once the water level hits that line, it doesn't want to pump correctly into the house. Allen cannot fix it until it warms up outside since it requires him going INTO the cistern, in the water!!!! (You couldn't PAY ME to do that; It totally freaks me out!) So for now, every month, we have to get it topped off. This kills me because there are still THOUSANDS of gallons of water in there!!

Our back one is on crack! It seems there is air in the line somewhere and we cannot figure it out. Right now that is the one we have hooked up because at least it gives us water....but not without a fight. When I turn on the faucet, it sounds like it is spitting the water at me - pffffsttttt ta ta ta -- then, once I am totally aggravated, it then makes a sound like a machine gun blowing out bullets. But wait, it is NOT a machine gun with bullets, it is a WATER TAP with WATER. By this point, I want to hit it because it sounds like it is trying to shoot and kill me!! Well, it probably will kill me after all the stress I endure from it!

The worst is trying to shower with a shower head 'spitting' at you! So why, do you ask, why do we not just hook up to the city water at the street and been done with this misery we call our water? Well I will tell you why.....

Because when it is working properly, we are lucky if we need to have the water guy come out 3 or 4x a year at $65 a trip. That is a total of about $260 a year for water.

Because if we get tapped into the city water, we have to pay roughly $5k for the tap-in FEE and then another $5k for the installation. And no, they wouldn't allow us to do it. It doesn't matter that my husband is completely capable of installing the lines and can get the machinery to do it - you have to use a contractor recommended by the county. (HA!)

Because after I pull $10k out of a hat to GET the city water, then I have to pay roughly $70 a month in a water bill! SERIOUSLY!? Yes, seriously!

So now you know why you will have to occasionally put up with my ranting blogs on my water spitting at me situation until the weather warms up and Allen can go swimming!