How long does it take to switch from well water to city water

My husband and I have found a great house in Providence Plantation we'd like to buy. Unfortunately, it's still on well water, and the inspection report came back FAILED due to coliform bacteria contamination. Has anyone converted to city water here? How hard is it? Does it fix water pressure problems? Should we just run away from this house? Ugh

Location: South Charlotte

1,435 posts, read 5,555,546 times

Which type of coliform bacteria did it show positive for? One type (total i think) is naturally occuring minerals and such from tree roots, etc.. The well just needs to be "shocked" most likely and its a real simple and cheap process.

As far as the city connection you can call them and ask. They will be able to give you a ballpark estimate for the tap and meter fees, then explain how much it will be per foot to run the line up to the house. Last time I checked (3years ago) it was around $4500 for the tap and meter plus the piping fees to connect to the home.

Location: NE Charlotte, NC (University City)

1,894 posts, read 6,202,702 times

It all depends on whether or not there is a water main out front or not. The likelihood of there not being one is high since the house's main system is on a well. Installation of a water main is very expensive (on the order of $60-$100 per foot) and is the number one prohibitor of establishing city service. Typically, a water main must be located directly out front of your property (on either side of the street) for you to be able to use city water. If it's down the street, you can't simply run a small service tap to it. You'll run into easement issues with cutting across other people's yards or running an excessively long service connection in public right-of-way.

If there is a main for you to use, you have to pay connection fees, meter fees, and capacity fees (basically, paying your share of the cost of a water and/or sewer treatment plant). Here's a link to CMU fees: Click Here (http://www.charmeck.org/NR/rdonlyres/esqouzvywdiiwuq4to6sj27tlmvyvbyah7oba67mv5meeyhq6o hg3mijv2m23ntvt6eqddxbcdtyusj53nwirkxkubf/FEESFY09.pdf - broken link) A typical residential meter size is 3/4" with some houses requiring a larger 1" meter (if you have extra demands or just simply a larger house with more water uses--i.e. bath rooms). Looking at that fee schedule, you would only pay for what you're hooking up. For instance, if you're on septic or are already hooked up to city sewer (a good sign that there may be a water main out front), you won't be responsible for the city sewer capacity charge.

So to give an example:
Residential 3/4" water meter (no sewer connection): $1,513 (connection fee) + $415 (water capacity fee) = $1,928.

In addition, you're responsible for hooking the new city service up to your house. In other words, the city will install a meter at the property line, and that's it. You have to run a service line from the meter to your house's water connection (currently running to the well). this is as simple as digging a skinny 2' deep trench from the meter to teh house and putting a flexible water service house in it. A plumber can do this easily and will probably cost a few hundred dollars.

Hope this helps.

Location: midwest transplant

370 posts, read 718,287 times

HI!

We are actually in the process of purchasing a house in Providence Plantation. We are waiting on our inspection and are finding it difficult to get facts on if this house is on city sewer. Because the house is a corporate relocation, it does not have a NC disclosure. I will be watching this thread to see your outcome!

Maybe we will be neighbors!

Location: Wherever I park the motorhome

286 posts, read 1,441,599 times

Having your own well is usually much better all around than changing to city water.

Any presence of Coliform bacteria in a 100 mililiter sample of water deems the water as nonpotable. It is a large group of bacteria including E-Coli, fecal Coliform and others that can be dangerous. It is easily treated without a large expense.

Shocking a contaminated well is rarely to never a permanent 'fix' but it gives the uninformed a false sense of security. Coliform bacteria contamination comes and goes or once it shows up, it stays permanently. It is living bacteria that live on/in and underground, on/in and under water.

There are a number of ways to treat the water; chlorine (3-4 different ways), ozone, hydrogen peroxide or a UV light. What type of treatment you can choose depends on what and how much of it is also in the water. I have treated hundreds of contaminated wells over the last 20 yrs. and the water quality is much higher than most city waters. And the home owner controls the quality at much less expense than city water frontage and hookup costs plus the ever increasing monthly city water bill expense.

The water pressure of a well water system is easily adjustable by adjusting the pressure tank air precharge and the well pump's pressure switch settings. It takes maybe 20 minutes to do that and once done you don't need to do it again, although you should check the air pressure in the pressure tank annually.

Hello! How has your closing gone? There must be a bunch of relos in Prov. Plantation. I just don't get that an NC disclosure isn't a requirement. Anyway, as it turns out, although I loved the house, we decided it had too many problems. Mold in the basement that seemed impossible to eradicate also. I'm very disappointed because it was a great house.

Is well water better or worse than city water?

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