I have no water supply help!

[Notwhitevanman]

Bought house 2 years ago and the water supply was from a spring via a well in a neighbouring forestry. 2 weeks in the supply dried up. Been using rainwater harvesting ever since but at this time of year with less rainfall we often run out and I have to source water from elsewhere which is time consuming and expensive. Certainly not sustainable long term. Saved up for a borehole which was recently dug but it was dry. Seems like my only option now is to connect to the mains supply which is over a mile from my house. Not had a definite quote yet but probably looking at tens of thousands which we don’t have.
Does anybody have any ideas?
The biggest problem of course is my house is pretty much unsellable with no water supply so I can’t even move to rectify the problem.
At my wits end and have completely come to the end of the road with ideas.
Anybody have a similar problem and how did you fix it?
As a side note I feel that the previous owner probably knew about this but how do I prove it?
With hindsight we should have checked the supply out but we were blinded by the house and the amazing views and being from towns all our lives it just didn’t occur to us.
Naive - yes
Stupid - quite possibly

Can anybody help?

I lived in a house with spring-fed water supply for 40 years.

It’s likely that the pipe work has an issue (huge leak, blockage, air bubbles). A spring might dry up in prolonged low-rainfall (hopefully not!) but should run again in (eg) the winter. More likely to be a pipe issue or header-tank problem. Can you not just go to the spring and see what’s happening? Also see the header tank?

in Scotland there are fairly limited grants available to help offset cost of sorting old water supplies, trying to make sure pre-existing water supply is safe to drink (from source to where it enters the house). Worth looking into for where you are?

Did your solicitor ask the vendor to sign anything stating the supply had been adequate & uninterrupted for x years?

Good morning
Thank you for all your replies again.
No I don’t own the land to the water supply. It would have to go along the country lane.
No I haven’t had the system checked professionally, to be honest I’ve struggled to find out who I actually need to get in to look at it. The collection point (well?) is in the forestry quite high up behind my house. I monitored it for a few weeks and it did fill but very very slowly. It’s probably only a metre deep space by half a metre and it took almost two weeks to fill it. The house is over 150 years old so I’m assuming the well etc is as old.
I had thought that maybe the point where the water makes it’s way into the ‘well’ may have become blocked but again I have struggled to find out who I would need to check this for me. The pipe work from the well to the collection chambers and then on to the house are very old and probably shot also.
When the ‘well’ was full after taking a couple of weeks to fill there was still nothing going into the collection chambers at the back of my house.
If I could just get the water flowing back into the ‘well’ (not sure if that’s the right term for where the water collects from the source) then it would be quite an ask to lay all new pipes but certainly less trouble and expense than connecting to the mains supply over a mile or so away.
I think from all the information you have all provided I need to revisit the original water source situation and actually find out for definite if it has or hasn’t ‘dried up’ but as I said earlier I just can’t seem to find anyone who knows about this stuff and could come and look into it for me.
I’m quite handy myself but it’s just a bit much for me to do by myself as I don’t really know where to start.
Thank you to everyone who has replied. It’s been a big help and has given me some options which I didn’t have before and I’m very grateful for that.
Its the old fashioned ‘man of the house looks after the family thing’ and the guilt I feel about not being able to sort this out for my family that is the real hard part. Felt pretty useless for quite a while now but I will not ever give up.

Re Saz12 - the legal side of things is something I’ve been trying to get my head round. Nothing about water supply was noted by solicitors.
Did the vendor know of this problem and kept quiet? How do I prove that?
I had a full survey done on the house before buying and I didn’t notice it at the time but there is one small line in it that says something along the lines of ‘could do with the water quality being checked for drinking purposes’ and ‘it would be prudent to look for another potable water source’. My understanding there is that one sentence has completely covered him?
To be honest the house was in quite a state that I was more concerned with more pressing issues like the roof etc that I just did not see that line. Hindsight is a very amazing thing. Have I learned a lesson? Yes a very very harsh one.
I did investigate the whole line from the well to the collection tanks to the house and I’m pretty confident that the issue is at the source but I’m seriously stuck as to how I rectify that. After reading lots of things on the internet I have sort of been led to think that the source has ‘dried up’ or ‘redirected itself due to the forestry work’ - maybe the source is actually still there and it’s just not getting in to the well anymore for some reason?

It is usually in the deeds that you have a right to take water from certain land and a right to put the necessary holding tanks and pipe work on the land. The land owners have a responsibility to allow you to do this and usually to not do anything to the land which will prevent you getting water.

Spring water is often led into the holding tank using a perforated corrugated pipe. So if the spring has moved you can repipe it back to your header tank.

it’s not that difficult to have a go. When we were on a spring my brother and I always sorted the water supply and we were only in our teens (dad has mobility issues). Go over there have a good look at everything and take photos. Look for the wetter, in our case it was the boggy areas where the springs came up. Springs often come out of hill in a line. If you’ve any neighbours on similar systems will they help you out? Is it definitely gravity fed. Is there one of these up there blakeshydram.co.uk?
check all the pipes, you may need to do some digging, if forestry machinery has driven over your pipes they will be broken.
Farmers are often good at outside water supply work so ask around. If it’s forestry land it maybe worth speaking to them.
Do you have the water tested regularly and put it through a sediment and UV filter?
It is probably fixable.

Thanks for that. Will have a look when I get home. I love your ‘it is probably fixable’
gives me hope! You’re not anywhere near Llanidloes are you?

Are you in any local FB groups? Ask in there if so. There will be lots of rural properties that don't have mains water around Llanidloes! And someone will have a suggestion for you.

I've just googled and found this company, they'd probably be able to help

www.livingwaterfiltration.co.uk/water-services

Thanks

So the initial well thingy does fill, but that water doesn’t get through to your settling tanks? And the water level in the well - does it drain away somehow or does it stay full? If it seems to stay full, then likely the pipes between the two are blocked. If it drains away the pipes are probably very leaky. There’s likely to be an inexplicably boggy patch around the leaking pipe. Can you follow the line of the pipe to see if you can find anything that looks odd?

Theres likely to be a big air bubble in the pipe if supply has been interrupted. There’s usually a place where you can let it out somewhere between the spring and the settling tank. You probably need to set some time aside to see if you can find it, although the previous owner would almost certainly just be able to tell you.

If you/your solicitor didn’t ask about water supply then legally you’ve not got a leg. Given that’s the case, will the previous owner be able to help, eg with explanation as to how it works?

Old off-mains water supplies are usually very basic but a one-off, difficult to find anyone who’ll know. Ask around locally though, if anyone helped the previous owner with maintenance.

But if the pipes are as old as you think (did you ever get the water tested for lead? Do you have a uv steriliser where water supply enters the house?) it’s a possibility that you’ll need to replace with (blue plastic) pipes (I’m guessing they’ve a proper name!).

Morning Saz12. Thank you for your post.
The holding tank that the spring initially collects in does fill but very very slowly.
when that is full it doesn’t then travel to the main holding tanks directly behind the house. So yes there is almost certainly an issue with the old lead pipe work between the two and that would need replacing as would the pipe between the main holding tanks and the house. They did allow water through but are old lead pipes. Yes I’ve got a filter and uv.
The main issue is why such a small initial holding area fills so very slowly. I emptied it once and monitored it. It did fill but took about a week. There is probably only capacity in there to hold maybe a couple of hundred litres so with five people in the house that is clearly nowhere near enough. Previous owner is clueless to be honest. I’m thinking I may need to speak with the owners before the person I bought off but they are quite elderly now and they only used the house as a holiday home in summer. I did once get a message from one of my neighbours who had spoken with them and they indicated that they never had an issue with the water running out.
seeing as they were hardly ever there then that’s not really helpful when comparing to a family using the house.
I suspect the water supply has been an issue for a very long time and it’s unfortunately us, a modern family unit with teenagers etc, that it simply cannot accommodate.
Legally I think you’re spot on.
We have made a huge and potentially very very expensive mistake. It has taken its toll emotionally and mentally.
But at the end of the day what can I do. Somehow I need to work this out on top of my 6 day working week and quite extensive house renovations.
Ironically I moved to Wales to finally get my work/life balance in much better shape!!
Im going to head off into the hills with a spade and try and have a dig around. From there who knows.
Thank you to all who have taken the time to listen or reply.
very much appreciated

Water usage now is much higher than it would’ve been in the past. Also tolerance for crappy water supply is lower!

But don’t despair, there are options like a borehole, mains, prefer pipes. Look into grants for historic off-grid supply.

You can get the pipes cleared out they just put a long thing through it. Hopefully there is a blockage of sorts. I saw this on the Jeremy Clarkson farm show on Amazon so obviously I'm no expert but they sorted it out and used a pump and gravity etc and it was from a spring Worth finding that episode to see if it helps in any way

I’m in North Yorkshire so not much use
laying a new pipe is not much work and lead does become leaky over time. You could lay it over the surface to start with.
the header tank seems more of an issue. We had a header tank of about 1msqu and it took 2 hours to fill in times of drought. In normal times it remained full
if you can get water into the header tank that would be a huge step forward.
you can also buy huge rainwater tanks in metal. Many farms have them even if they are on mains. We will be looking at getting one next year. You can then have some of the house pipes on rain water or have a switch over system where you swap between the two. Which is again common on farms to save money on mains water.

Come winter, when there's lots of water, it will be clearer what the problem is. You can add dye to the source to see where it's going wrong, etc.

Have you investigated getting a top up from the fire brigade as a PP suggested?