I grew up with (mostly) “city water” and septic systems. But I’ve also owned homes in the country with wells and septic systems, and I had a house in Michigan with a well… and municipal sewer system. So I know a bit about these things.
The septic tank is where “black water” goes from toilets. The tank itself has a series of baffles that make sure that solid matter stays in each section until it breaks down enough to clear the next baffle. There has to be a place for water to go, obviously, so when the tank is “full” (its normal condition) each incoming flush of the toilet runs an equivalent volume of water out to the tank’s leach field. This is a coarse gravel bed buried “downstream” from the tank where water can percolate into the ground underneath.
If you have the inclination (and a plumbing system that allows it) you can also have a “dry well”, which is where “gray water” from sinks, showers, laundry, etc. will go. This doesn’t require the same treatment. Even though this isn’t sanitary water, it also doesn’t need the treatment that black water requires. This can enable you to have a smaller septic system. Essentially, the dry well is a pit with a gravel bottom covered by a concrete cap and all buried in the yard. You won’t even be aware of its existence… until something happens to require its pumping out, in case it’s flooded or otherwise fails to drain. My father opened up our dry well at our home in Massachusetts once to have it pumped out, and I have never smelled anything so foul.
Septic systems can require occasional pumping as well, especially if you don’t have the dry well, because that means that all drains run to it, so it can clog as solids are pushed too quickly to the leach field outlets, making the whole system less effective.
Wells, if properly sited and equipped, can be pretty trouble-free. If you’re putting in a new well, then of course you’ll want to plan carefully where it goes: as near the dwelling as possible to minimize external piping and electricity runs, and upstream / upland from the septic system. However, with modern drilled wells, you’ll be drilling (in most cases) much deeper than any drainage from the septic system will see in many, many years, so that’s not so much of a consideration – as long as the well is properly cased. You do not want a shallow “dug well”, which essentially gives you near-surface water, which is generally not of sanitary quality. That kind of well would be fine for agriculture and irrigation, but not for potability.
Assuming you opt for the drilled well, then you want to get recommendations from locals in your area about who gets best results. They’ll know the conditions of the area, and about how far they’ll have to drill for “good” water. “Good” water in this case means “volume” and “purity” first, and “mineral content” second. If the water in your area is hard, then you’ll have to treat that with a water softening system. The well will generally be drilled with a 4” (or larger) casing, which is pipe all the way to the water source, and your “water pipe” will be inside that, with a submerged pump at the bottom. If the underground water source is in an area that requires it, then the well will have a “sand point” that does some gross filtration of the sand particles that may be encountered.
Your well driller will need to know the number of people expected in the home and any additional water uses you may have, and he can tell you what’s going to be an adequate flow for you. When he drills and hits water he will run a test (wasting a lot of water, it will appear) to check out its flow and recharge rates, before he knows that he’s done.
After you have the well installed, then you’ll have to have it plumbed into the house. You’ll lay a pipe underground (below the frost line for your area) to the house, and have an inlet valve (and any treatment equipment, and a pump shutoff) installed there, and then you’ll be good to go.
Just bring cash, and your contractors can handle it all for you. The trick is
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