I had clients ask me about the pros and cons between wells vs. public water and thought it was a good topic for the blog. Here are my thoughts. Feel free to contribute your thoughts.

As with everything there are pluses and minuses. The biggest minus, in my opinion, is that when the electricity goes out you have no water. There are ways around that, of course. You can get a generator. And, if it’s for a few minutes or even an hour it’s probably no big deal. If it gets to be a couple of days it can be interesting!

Another minus is that you own the equipment and if something goes wrong it gets fixed at your expense. If you’re on city water and something breaks in the water plant you never even know. The flip side of this, of course, is that someone ultimately pays for the city's equipment as well and that's you in the form of higher water rates. With a well there are no water bills.

A plus for well water can be the quality. You know what’s around you and what’s likely going into your well. If there’s something bad in the city water you’ll never know unless they tell you. There are also people who don't want their water treated with things the city might believe is a good idea, for example, fluoride or chlorine.

With a well, as part of the contract to buy, we would ask that the water be tested for bacteria. That's a standard clause in the local real estate contracts. And, if you like, you can always ask for additional testing. I have had clients request testing for other chemicals they were concerned about. (The good news is we've never found any.)

Other than that the differences are dependent on the quality of the city water. The truth is, for most people, you're not going to notice a significant difference in the taste of your water based on whether it's city or well water.