Community Wells: What Are the Pros And Cons?

If you are thinking of installing a community well or purchasing a property with an established community well, you probably have questions like, “Can I dig a well on my property?” We’ve got the answers for you. A well is a great way to save on household costs, decrease environmental impact, and provide fresh, clean water to your family year-round. Read on for more pros and cons of community wells.

What Is a Community Well?

A community well or shared well is any well system that serves more than one household but fewer than 25 people for part or all of the year. It’s owned and operated by a community or neighborhood association. Public well criteria differ by state, but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines it as serving more than 15 connections and at least 25 people for more than 60 days a year. Private community wells are not regulated or monitored by the EPA.

How Does a Community Well Work?

The homeowners that share a community well also share the annual costs of testing, treatment, and maintenance. Ideally, each home will have a meter that measures how much water it uses. At an agreed-upon time, usually quarterly or annually, all participants pay into a coffer that goes toward maintenance and related taxes, if any. 

The payment can be divided equally by connection, size of household, or usage. Consider a well-crafted Shared Well Agreement to limit issues and increase household accountability.

Pros of a Community Well

Community wells come with many benefits. We’ve summed up the best things about community wells. 

Shared Costs

The annual costs associated with community wells are less expensive than municipal water costs because you share them with the other residents in your community. The average cost of municipal water for U.S. families is $1000 a year. Depending on your well system, your costs could be between $200 and $1000 per year. Factors that contribute to the annual cost are mostly related to the type or size of the pump and its age. 

The average cost of electricity in the U.S. is $0.171 kWh. A well supplying the average daily water usage for three families would need to run at about 2.5 hours per day with an average 1HP pump that uses 1.6 kWh of electricity. So, you’d share an average of $0.68 per day to run your well. When you do the math (don’t worry, we did it for you!), that’s an average of nearly $85 per year per family. You can assume a community well will use more electricity than a smaller, single-household well. 

To calculate your actual cost, multiply the run time by the kWh of your system, then multiply that by your actual electricity cost in kWh to get a daily total. Then, divide your daily total by the number of families sharing the costs to get your individual cost per day. Keep in mind that the pump will only draw electricity when it’s in use. 

Shared Maintenance

A community well is typically bigger than a single-household well. This can mean more weekly maintenance. With a shared well, you share the load. The common goal can be unifying in your community as neighbors come together to keep their well water running smoothly.

Day-to-day well maintenance is definitely something the homeowners can easily tackle. By monitoring water levels, testing water, surveying the area for dead animals, and cleaning easily accessible parts your community can ensure higher water quality and extend the life of your well. All community members can participate in these simple tasks. 

Older pumps require more maintenance and repairs. Well repairs costs can average $700 a year. Assume yearly maintenance and electricity costs average $1000 a year, and divide that by the number of houses sharing the well. If only four houses use the well, your annual costs are approximately $250. 

Faster Test Results

You can test and treat your well water as frequently as needed to sustain higher quality water because you are in control. Your community won’t have to wait for the city to resolve a big problem.

Home garden stores sell basic water tests that check for chemicals like iron, mercury, chlorine, fluoride, nitrates, nitrites, sulfide, and lead. You can also harvest a sample and send it to a lab to test for molds, viruses, bacteria, microbes, amoeba, metals, and chemical contaminants.

Smaller Environmental Footprint

Community wells require less energy and have a lower environmental impact than a public treatment system. They take up less land, leaving more for agriculture or recreational purposes. They also use less electricity than 10 individual wells. 

Long lifespan

A well-maintained well typically has a long lifespan of about 30 years. A deep well provides a seemingly endless water supply to multiple households. By sharing the costs of the well, you can afford to build a stronger and deeper well from the start. With a private well, you may cut corners that wind up costing you more in the long run.

Cons of a Community Well

Most of the negatives associated with a private shared well are problems of the human condition, though a few issues result from environmental factors.

Higher Environmental Contamination Risk

The following groundwater contaminants can negatively impact groundwater and aquifers:

• Floods

• Unusually high volumes of rain

• Rapid snow melt

• Forest fires

• Broken septic systems

• Faulty well components or systems

• Carrion

Farming and industrial practices in the surrounding area can leach contaminants like nitrates into the groundwater. Without a clear Shared Well Agreement or a municipality to keep things in order, neighbors can mistakenly contaminate groundwater with vehicle maintenance, pesticides, and toxic cleaning supplies.

Increased Drought Concerns

A shallow well can run dry during a drought, and if your shared well isn’t deep enough, you could be competing with your neighbors for a scarce resource. Purchasing water from an outside source can be costly and the only option. And in that case, you’ll need to be sure you work together to withstand the drought. 

Human Carelessness

Misuse, tampering, and excess use of the water and the surrounding land by fellow community residents can lead to contamination and exhaustion of the well water. Arguments over easement access can be frustrating and delay maintenance or repairs.

A Shared Well Agreement will set clear rules regarding use, allotted volume, division of annual costs, shared maintenance responsibilities, easement access, and adherence to private well best practices. If an issue with a resident escalates to civil court, an agreement makes your case clear in writing.

Where Does Well Water Come From?

In most cases, water in wells comes from groundwater that’s seeped into the water table or aquifer. An aquifer consists of layers of sand, rock, and particulates with water running through it. A water table is the top level of the aquifer. 

The most common well is a drilled well. When you drill your well below the water table, the water from within the aquifer drains into the well cavity but only to the top of the water table. To get the water level to rise, you need a pump. To regulate the pressure, you need a pressure tank.

Well Water vs. City Water

The main difference between city water vs. well water is where the water comes from and how it gets into your house. An individual or community well sits on or near your home and is plumbed directly from the well to your home. Private well water is widely considered safe for consumption, gardening, and household use. 

A city or county and the EPA regulate municipal public water. It usually comes from a deep and abundant source like a damned river or lake, and many systems extract the water from the source. Before entering homes, water is piped into a treatment system, filtered to remove particulates, and then treated with chlorine, fluoride, and, in some systems, UV light. Landowners serviced by a public water system pay for this service through their annual taxes and a water bill based on how much they use.

What Happens When You Need Repairs?

When a community well needs common well repairs or replacement, it can get complicated. Who hires the professional, and who pays them? This is where a shared agreement comes in handy again. It should designate one or two people to oversee repairs and payment. Ideally, annual service dues cover the cost of maintenance and repairs.  

These tasks are best left to a local well professional who can guarantee their work. You'll have peace of mind knowing the job was done right. In the event you have a big issue later on and need to make a claim, you'll have a paper trail for your insurance.