Water, water everywhere...where to get a drink?

I'm in the process of outlining my next book on procuring water for your homestead or home. We had a successful experience introducing this as a topic at the North Country Renewable Energy Fair held in Canton, NY last month. It will include the following chapters:

Chapter I. About water….Wells, springs, ground water, artesian supplies, dug wells, drilled wells, cisterns, rainwater, finding water (hydrology and water witching)

Chapter II. Well Buckets

Chapter III. Shallow Well Hand Pumps

Chapter IV. Deep Well Hand Pumps

Chapter V. Wind Powered Water Pumps

Chapter VI. Ram Pumps

Chapter VII. Rebuilding Old Style Piston Pumps

Chapter VIII. Solar Powered Water Pumping

Chapter IX. Hand Dug Wells

Chapter X. Rain Catchment and Cisterns

Chapter XI. Plumbing Basics

Chapter XII. Water Purification

This is all stuff I know about and have, for the most part, participated in. I helped out at the local historical society museum yesterday. They had 8 or 9 groups of 4th graders come through with an adult/teacher/chaperone to tour the museum. My job was to explain the tool collection they have in their basement. I had fun creating a 20 minute story with them about the tools and how they would have been used if we could have transported ourselves back in time 150 years. I let the kids take on the roles of children in a large family coming to our area and settling down and building a farm. We used our imaginations to figure out how the tools would have been used by almost everybody in 'our' family to help clear the land, build the buildings, plant, care for harvest and process the crops, take care of livestock, get water, keep warm, fix or build equipment, etc.

The museum had a working pitcher pump in the kitchen and a rainwater cistern in the basement. The kids and adults, by and large, had no idea how the water systems worked in those days, let alone, right now! There is a need for this kind of information. Please feel free to e-mail me with your questions, ideas and suggestions about this book. jsjuczak@gisco.net

The pump plans and kits are just waiting for you! Feel free to order them and my book on scrounging so I can continue my endeavors in creating a self-reliance campus for our surrounding community and for those that make the trip for a visit.

Have a great day! -Jim-