Still waiting for a plumber

With heavy snow and now rain, many people have been commenting that our water situation must have sorted itself out by now.

Well, yes and no.

On the positive side, when the snow melt and rainwater make their way into the aquifer in about six months time, it will give the borehole a much needed boost. The water butts are also full but when the weather turns dry again the pigs will go through this very rapidly - even if there are only three of them now.

But on the downside, the water in the main storage tank is still contaminated after being filled by the fire service and while we can wash with that water, we can’t drink it.

That means the Other Half still has to do water runs every two days, filling jerry cans at her school and bringing them home where I pour them into a brewing keg with a tap.

Our local plumber has been out to quote for installing a UV filtration system (including a sediment filter as well) and told us on a number of occasions that he would be out to do the job. Unfortunately, he hasn’t and plumbers from further afield charge far too much money for us to afford.

I’d looked at doing the job myself, but had decided it’s too important a job to risk getting it wrong - whether its flooding the house from poorly brazed joints or giving us food poisoning from contaminated water. However, with the ongoing delay in getting a plumber to do the job I might have to bite the bullet and do it myself.

After all, I did get an Italian borehole pump with no wiring diagram up and running after some trial and error. Maybe I should get myself a job as a plumber…