Off grid living, part four — water & food

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts by the architect Mark Stephens on going off grid. The full series can be found here.

As we’re approaching the end of my guest blog posts, it’s lucky that the last two topics are probably the easiest for Ireland to handle — this post on how to get water and food, and the final blog post on the safe disposal of effluent. The reason these two are the easiest for Ireland to manage is due to effectively the complete lack of water delivery infrastructure once you get outside the major cities and towns.

Water

Let’s therefore deal with how we get water to our site, using a rural house as an example. The previous articles have dealt with shelter and providing heat and power. As long as you have the means to make a fire and put a cover over your head you can live pretty much anywhere, but it’s essential that you have a source of water in order to survive. The requirement for water divides neatly into two areas: the water to drink and the water to cook and wash with. So let’s look at ways you can obtain water from your site without being connected to a mains water supply. We’ll firstly discuss how you obtain your own source of water.

Wells & Boreholes

A new-traditional type of well is quite expensive to construct; instead a borehole is drilled to obtain water at a much smaller diameter. Normally about 150-300mm in diameter and drilled down to at least 50m, the resulting hole is lined with a steel or plastic tube and has a pump at the surface to pressurise the water into your house.

With so many variables (land, contours, geology etc) it’s difficult to give exact costs without one of the specialist firms that conduct the drilling visiting the site. A very approximate cost is somewhere in the region of €3000 to 6000.

Springs

A spring is water that percolates through porous earth until it reaches an impervious layer on which it collects. If the water bed is U-shaped then water is forced up resulting in a gush or trickle.

Streams and rivers

It is possible to obtain water directly from a stream or river, but there’s no guarantee of its cleanliness (which I will discuss in a moment). However, I have completed a few planning applications for new houses where the water is obtained from a stream.

In order for your water to be drinkable (or 'potable') then it will need to meet European safety standards; it is therefore essential for all of the methods described above to have a sample of your water tested and if required, to fit a purification system to purify the water further. Some councils in fact insist upon this sample water test as part of a planning application.

Let’s not discount one of the biggest sources of water available — rain. If they were careful, two adults and two children could theoretically manage for water solely on collected rainwater. What all of us can do however is implement a rainwater harvesting system, even if it’s only a basic collection system such as a water storage butt which can then be used for greywater in the house (flushing toilets etc) A more sophisticated system (ie a full rainwater harvesting system) could involve large underground storage tanks, physical and ultraviolet filters and delivery pumps / pipes. With water charges rising and metered costs likely to be introduced, some form of rainwater management is essential.

Food

So we have got water into our off-grid house, the next aspect in survival is providing enough food to survive. According to the excellent website A Self Sufficient Life http://www.aselfsufficientlife.com, approximately sixty square meters is enough land to feed a family of four for the year. As someone who’s dabbled in growing his own vegetables, it’s important to point out that a) It’s bloody hard work and b) it takes a lot of time. There is however nothing that replaces the taste of your own veg.

As well as growing vegetables, fruit, herbs etc. it is also possible for you to keep animals for milk and meat. It’s not impossible to keep a single cow or a few pigs, sheep or goats on a small piece of land, but as seen in the incredible upsurge in poultry sales, there are many people now keeping hens for eggs (myself included). A small group of hens (say six to ten) will constantly keep a family in eggs with a few to spare. Don’t forget that ducks and geese can also be kept for eggs and slaughter; interestingly the profitable life of a goose is six times as long as that of a chicken. Also, don’t forget that you could even keep a few hives of bees for honey.

When you have sown your seeds, tended your crops and reaped your vegetables, the key steps are that you should firstly eat seasonal food and then preserve and store food for eating later. There are stacks of books available on salting, drying, smoking, bottling and potting your meat, vegetables and fruit. And if the thought of becoming self-sufficient is turning you off then don’t forget that you could even brew your own wine, beer or cider from apples grown on your land.

The next and concluding article will deal with how to dispose of the effluent that you and your family produces, another area that Ireland has had to become self-sufficient in due to the lack of sewage infrastructure when you venture outside cities and towns. I’ll also be discussing the problems associated with every household pumping out their own effluent into the Irish countryside in poorly designed and constructed septic tanks.