Peter Squires

We live in the campo but are on mains water. Problem is that the mains seem to be bursting somewhere along the line and we can go for hours (sometimes days) without water.

Now in the winter, this is not much of a problem, but in the summertime, it is pretty dire! Yes we keep expensive bottled water on hand, but using this to flush the loos etc soon mounts up.

I am surprised that there appears to be no provision whatsoever to bring in mobile water to residents when the mains are off, nor of any compensation at all (or am I wrong)?

Perhaps this is an undocumented joy of living in Spain

Fred James

Yes it happens!

The usual solution if it is a regular occurrence is to install a small water tank which is plumbed into the system to provide water for a short period while the main supply is off.

Dxf

Hi

I don´t have mains water, so rely on electricity (normal mains electric) for the well pump. But I keep a 5 gallon jerry can of water with which I can flush the toilet whenever we have a power cut and I don´t want to start the generator.

Davexf

snikpoh

Have you tried ringing them and logging the complaint?

We found that once we had done that, we either had a call back with an explanation or it was fixed within a couple of hours.

Is it EGEVASA?

fionamw

I don't know what your area is like, but we and most campo dwellers around here have a deposito (large storage vessel - in our case 2 x 10,000 ltr) to back up for when the mains is off or on low pressure....in summer this can be for weeks at a time. In fact right now we haven't had mains water (maybe a dribble at night, but not enough to fill up) for about 10-12 days.
For those who haven't got mains, or when the situation is seriously bad, there are well owners with water bowsers who can sell water in large quantity - 2,000ltre or so at a time. I'd be surprised if all this doesn't apply country-wide.

Peter Squires

No. our water is supplied by Aguas Del - it always affects at least 20 properties in my locality and the Spanish speaking owners always get straight onto the company, but I do not believe they ever get told what caused the stoppage, until I drive out and see yet another hole in the road they have dug up to make the repair.

Peter Squires

[QUOTE=fionamw;9491108]I don't know what your area is like, but we and most campo dwellers around here have a deposito (large storage vessel - in our case 2 x 10,000 ltr) to back up for when the mains is off or on low pressure....in summer this can be for weeks at a time. In fact right now we haven't had mains water (maybe a dribble at night, but not enough to fill up) for about 10-12 days.QUOTE]

And I thought I had it bad!

Fred James

Some friends of ours who live on an urbanisation still have problems with water as although they have a "mains" supply it comes from a deposito on the Urb. It can run out, especially if someone refills his pool so they bought a big plastic tank and had an "on demand" pump fitted.

Problem solved.

We live in the campo and rely on agricultural water which, although it is delivered by a pipe connected to the property is not exactly "mains" water as it is not pressurised all the time.

Our deposito is big enough for a small family to live in - 200,000 litres.

fionamw

[QUOTE=Peter Squires;9491144] Yip, all the old favourites - washing up water for plants, yelling at the kids for tsunamis getting in the pool, 'if it's yellow it's mellow if it's brown flush it down'' - we're familiar with all the above and more! Mind you not quite the same as having a leak someone should be aware of and mending....

bil

Round here it is standard practice to have a tank on the roof to carry you over a break in the water supply.

snikpoh

In this part of Valencia (Muro and all parts North), there is no need for depositos (generally) as the mains supply never gets turned off due to lack of water. This includes campo properties as well.

In fact, a lot of water under this area is shipped to Barcelona and such places as we have more than we need (yep, we really are lucky in that respect).

fionamw

I've never understood the inconsistencies of water supply (UK, world over too) because yes we too have lakes the highest level for three years but who gets their water from where is the critical factor. Oh and that's not mentioning that during feria of course the villages get water whilst we in the sticks go dry!!!

angiescarr

I feel really lucky to have a large and full old fashioned well in my garden. I too have to pump from electricity though. So, if the electricity goes off I have to wait or use a generator as well. You can get a thin well (Pozo) drilled quite easily if you live in the Campo and there is any underground water source,(which there usually is) though I'm not sure what the cost is. I'd recommend it though. We got bored with the paperwork to get connected to mains water. Now we use well water for everything except drinking and brushing teeth. We go to the nearest fuente every two or three weeks and fill a car boot full of bottles for the most delicious drinking water. On Sunday the water was off all day throughout our village. Just the lucky few had well water.

Rostra

In Lanzarote our mains water has never run 24/7 and it used to be the law that every house could store enough to cope for 3 days, size depending on the number of folks living there. I've noticed recently that some newbuilds don't have them (they are usually on the roof of newer propeties, but many have recently started installing them. A small electric pump is needed to get the pressure up round th house. Mine is underground (holds 30 tons) so if the leccy goes off it's a bucket and rope job - keeps us fit!

I recently installed 1000 ltre tank at ground level, with small on demand pump) in a house that had by-passed it's underground tank (which now leaks), and it's doing the job fine.

bil

Watch out for when they come round with a GPS wanting to know where your well is. We are near an arroyo, and they have said that we will HAVE to have a mains supply when it comes in as the ground water MAY (not that they would test it) be contaminated by agricultural chems. I don't mind paying the standing charge, as I would consider it an insuance if my well pump goes down. However we would want to continue to use the well for watering the garden/huerta rather than pay for mains to do that.