Drought

Summer eventually arrived in July and with it was the good news that full planning permission had finally been granted. Hooray! Time for a trip to one of our local beaches.

Bossiney Bay









Alan snorkelling.







But the good news was short-lived.

Whilst the rest of Britain basked in the Summer sun we looked on in horror as the water level in our well began dropping rather dramatically. Boo and hiss!

As we suspected all along (and despite the claims of the vendor) our well was simply not good enough. As it couldn't supply enough water for the existing bungalow with just one toilet and one bath, it certainly wouldn't provide enough water for the new build with three toilets, one bath and two showers...

The well is about eight metres deep. The water level in this picture is only about a metre and a half from the bottom. Normally, it is five or six metres higher than this (usually between the knotted orange rope and the blue marker on the black supply pipe).





The water level in our fish pond was also dropping rather swiftly and we resorted to emptying the rainwater from the water butts into the pond as an emergency measure.





Living without water is no fun, especially in such hot weather. We bought hundreds of litres of Tesco value water for drinking but were severely restricted with all everyday tasks. We were unable to use the washing machine and dishwasher, could only flush the toilet once a day (even saving cold bathwater to fill up the toilet cistern). Baths were few and far between, but luckily some friends five miles away kindly invited us to use their guest cottage for showering.

The decision was made for us, the plot needed a better water supply and a borehole was our only option...