Water

Water is probably the most critical resource in this part of the country and there are several solutions to the problems of maintaining an adequate supply.

One of the most expensive solutions is to drill your own well. Water is very deep here, so drilling to it, putting in the casing and buying and maintaining a pump capable of pumping from that depth is very expensive. I've heard several quotes and most of them have been in the $15,000 and up range. As I say, this is just talk - I have not checked with a well driller for any real estimates.

The most common solution is to hook up to an established water supply, of which there are several in this part of the world. There are two different suppliers here in Golden Valley; one supplying the eastern part of the valley, the other the western. We live in the western part of Golden Valley, so our supplier became the Golden Valley Improvement District (the GVID), administered by Mohave County. From what I can gather, the eastern part is pretty static; that is, all their pipes are in the ground and paid for, so it's just a matter of paying for the water meter and the connect charge if you want water. In the GVID it's a little more complicated. Here the system is expanding and, as it expands, the property owners that gain service are assessed the cost of expansion. If you live in an area that is beyond what is currently covered, it's sometimes possible to gain service by paying a per-foot cost of extension and an estimated cost of what the eventual assessment will be when service is extended to your area.

Another common solution in this area is to exist on hauled water. A good many of the contractors who will put in your septic system can also install a water system for you. That consists of a fairly large (2,000 gallons or so) tank, usually buried, with the same kind of jet pump and pressure tank connected to it that you would normally use on a shallow well. Keeping it filled with water has several solutions. You can buy a tank (either on a trailer or to fit in the back of your pick-up truck) and haul the water yourself, or you can contract with someone who has a water truck and they'll keep it full for a price.

There are a goodly number of folks in this area who live beyond any kind of utility service - they get by on a combination of solutions that might include hauled water, solar energy, pumped fuel, composting toilets, generators (wind or petrochemical powered) and/or other things I don't know about yet.