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Drinking Water. SHTF Options.

What you have is a 6 " drilled well. No idea of the depth but that is easy enough to determine. The pump is still in the well (three wires) those are directly attached at the pump. If the pump were removed they would not have left the wires behind. Those wires are taped to the pipe at three - six foot intervals.
There are a few tests you can do to determine static depth (water level) output and running depth.
On a 1' pipe your flow rate should be around 18 GPM if memory serves me.
It is important to know the specs on your well so you don't risk sunning the pump dry.
There is a formula for gallons per foot on a 6" well. Static depth is the water level when you are not pumping.
Total depth - static= total volume . 1.5 gallons per foot of depth.
500 ft total depth - 100 ft static depth = 400 ft of water x 1.5 gallons per foot = 600 gallons of water.
Pumping for one hour would pump 1080 gallons. This would require a min of 8 GPM to break even =1080gal.
 
I’ve got a couple of drinking water options I need a little education on.

1st. I live on Lake Sinclair so I have plenty of lake water. I’ve got a couple of Life Straws and some purification pills. I’ve heard that a few drop of bleach makes lake water safe to drink too.

2nd. We were on well water but changed over to county water. The well is still there but was disconnected. I’m thinking this is my best source for drinking water. I’m guessing I could remove the pump and access the water with a bucket and rope or maybe a manual pump of some sort, or maybe even a 12 volt pump with battery/solar power.

looking for some advise.
Thanks

You are so lucky to have water. That being said, in an SHTF everyone within 100 miles of that lake will be thinking "Water and fish, holiday home I can take over." Get your water working and up your security. You are going to need good people to hold that location.
 
I had to laugh... After talking up how long the Berkey filters have lasted, I noticed mine had completely stopped working.

I have a spare set but as soon as I pulled the old ones out I saw that the bottom 1/3rd was coated with the red slime I seem to get from Cobb water on everything (I think it's iron from the red dirt).

Anyway, I scrubbed it off with a brush and reinstalled the filters, and now they are working like champs again.

I also looked on Amazon, and I've been running this filter set since May, 2016 and this is the first time I've had any issues with them. They are expensive, but they do last a while with tap water being put through them.
 
You are so lucky to have water. That being said, in an SHTF everyone within 100 miles of that lake will be thinking "Water and fish, holiday home I can take over." Get your water working and up your security. You are going to need good people to hold that location.

Agreed,
The lake is a great resource but also comes with considerable venerabilities. The fact that anyone with a boat can pretty much have full access to our property is an issue. The house is just 65’ from the water and is in full view. It’s not exactly a sanctuary. Not ideal long term.
 
You won't regret going with a Berkey.
We are really liking it. The water quality is much better than the city water or well water we have and it’s not like we had bad water, in comparison but it’s cleaner and taste better coming out of the Berkey. The fact that we don’t have to store drinking water and can run lake water through it is a big plus.
 
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