We are in Australia, and we are on tank water, there simply is NO piped water available. We are also on a septic system (no sewerage) - We aren't alone in this, everyone in our local area is the same. If we could afford it we'd get batteries and solar and live entirely off grid but that's damn expensive.
I can understand the government stepping in (as it does here) if you are selling products USING that water to third parties. If you decide to run a kitchen to bake goods for markers for example you need to have the water tested and they may force you to add down pipe gutter leaf guards or to have a small UV sterilizer added to the taps, but fair enough.
I live in America and have no running water (I collect rainwater for the garden and haul water 20 miles from a well in town). I am not hooked up to the electrical grid either. I have a battery bank and a generator. Later this year I will upgrade from a generator to solar panels. I also do not hook up to any sewer or septic system. We (gasp!) don't even have indoor plumbing! We have an outhouse that we use. We have our cellphones for internet and phone, but that is the only 'grid' service we use.
Are you worried someone from local council may come along and tell you it is illegal?
What you sound like is very much like a lot of rural Australia. Most of those people have very, very large properties and, well dunno if they consider themselves middle class but they are well off in terms of property at least.
No, where I live (Interior Alaska) my situation is fairly common. Our long term plan is to get a well after we get our solar set up installed. That might be 2-3 years down the road, but we're comfortable enough without it for now.
This is terrible bizarre and very sad.
We are in Australia, and we are on tank water, there simply is NO piped water available. We are also on a septic system (no sewerage) - We aren't alone in this, everyone in our local area is the same. If we could afford it we'd get batteries and solar and live entirely off grid but that's damn expensive.
I can understand the government stepping in (as it does here) if you are selling products USING that water to third parties. If you decide to run a kitchen to bake goods for markers for example you need to have the water tested and they may force you to add down pipe gutter leaf guards or to have a small UV sterilizer added to the taps, but fair enough.
I live in America and have no running water (I collect rainwater for the garden and haul water 20 miles from a well in town). I am not hooked up to the electrical grid either. I have a battery bank and a generator. Later this year I will upgrade from a generator to solar panels. I also do not hook up to any sewer or septic system. We (gasp!) don't even have indoor plumbing! We have an outhouse that we use. We have our cellphones for internet and phone, but that is the only 'grid' service we use.
Also, we consider ourselves solidly middle class.
Are you worried someone from local council may come along and tell you it is illegal?
What you sound like is very much like a lot of rural Australia. Most of those people have very, very large properties and, well dunno if they consider themselves middle class but they are well off in terms of property at least.
No, where I live (Interior Alaska) my situation is fairly common. Our long term plan is to get a well after we get our solar set up installed. That might be 2-3 years down the road, but we're comfortable enough without it for now.