Product Description

Knowledgeable discussion of home water systems, potential water problems, and practical, money-saving solutions.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #273849 in Books
• Published on: 1982-12-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Back Cover
If you live in the country or suburbs, you've had, are having, or will have water problems. What's yours? Not enough water? Too much? Tastes terrible? The pump quits? The water's contaminated? No matter what it is, author Stu Campbell addresses it in this book, and offers down-to-earth solutions in language understandable to all of us who aren't plumbers. Campbell had coped with water problems in both the East and the West, from the many-state shortages of the West to a cantankerous pump in Vermont. And he's probed the minds of experts -- dowsers, well diggers, plumbers, electricians, and those who know about the flow of water deep underground. In a friendly, knowledgeable manner, Campbell discusses your difficulties. He provides concrete and money-saving answers to questions that range from locating water to digging a pond to hooking up the plumbing in your home. You'll know when to try something yourself, when to call a plumber or other expert. You'll learn -- How to find water. -- How to move it. -- How to purify it. -- And how to store and distribute it in your home. Bob Vogel's illustrations take much of the mystery out of things as the underground flow of water and how pumps and other water-linked equipment operate.

About the Author
Stu Campbell is an accomplished gardener, writer and skier who lives in Stowe, Vermont. He has written Storey's The Home Water Supply, The Mulch Book, Mulch It! and Improving Your Soil as well. Stu is also a compulsive composter--collecting piles of particularly attractive leaves from the side of the road! Stu Campbell is the author of Let it Rot! (a guide to home composting) and The Home Water Supply. He lives in Stowe, Vermont.

Customer Reviews

Lacks Basic Data
This book doesn't contain the data needed for developing even a simple design for a home water system. For example, there is no data to calculate friction loss from water moving through pipes. The book notes that friction loss is easy to calculate using a table. The book includes a table that lists friction loss for valves and fittings in equivalent length of pipe. But, I can't find a table on friction loss per length of pipe. A third of the book and most of the bibliography is devoted to the author's opinions on water politics, he is no Marc Reisner.

A great source for home water system design and storage.
This book covers nearly every situation one may encounter in water procurement, perhaps the only subject not covered is hauling water to a completely dry site.

The focus of this book is necessarily on shallow wells, as deep wells require professional drilling, never the less the author covers well pumps, casing, storage devices and filtration systems with enough technical detail to meet most needs. Deep wells and methods are covered, just not in detail.

If you need to know how to identify and correct contamination you'll find it here. Need to compute water needs? Pump and storage specifications? Those are also here. In fact, you'll be pleased with the technical details and comparisons in an easy to read style.

I must have missed the new age stuff or at least forgot it as I read the whole book.

If you want to find water in a rural area, and develop it yourself, this is the book. I would not recommend "Cottage Water Systems" if you want detail on well systems.

A generalist approach to water.
A new age approach to the subject of water. Campbell's need to share his philosophy kept me from wanting to read the entire book. What it has to do with water is anybody's guess. But if you're into new age, and don't mind reading spiritualistic trash, this might be your book. Technically correct, the book attempts to be everybody's introduction to anything you ever wanted to know about water. That broad stroke is it's best and at the same time, worst feature.