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Buying Rural Property

Buying a house in a new city or neighbourhood is stressful enough but there are added obstacles when you're buying property that is not on city water or sewer or that may not have access to all the utilities you expect. It is especially important to have a professional to help you through this type of purchase because the variables are numerous but we wanted to shed some light on a few of areas that will need to be considered.

Water:

Whether it's just for the use of a single family or if you're looking to irrigate and/or support livestock water is by far one of the most important things to check and double check. Quantity and quality are both important and the testing of these should not be overlooked or waived.

  • Quantity:  When you have a well quantity test done you'll be provided with a number, generally in US gallons per minute, but what constitutes a "good" well?  That, of course, depends on who and how you're going to be using the water but to give you an idea of what an average family would use here are some numbers for you:
    • According to Statistics Canada the average Canadian uses 329 litres of water per day or 86.91 US gallons.
    • 86.91 gallons per day = 3.63 gallons per hour = 0.06 gallons per minute (gpm).
    • So at that a family of four - 0.06 gpm x 4 people = 0.24 US gpm
      • As a note:  the CSRD (Columbia Shuswap Regional District) requires that the minimum water that must be proven in order to subdivide is 2275 litres per day or 600 US gallons per day (or 0.42 US gpm) which should be plenty according to the average family of 4 as per Statistics Canada numbers.
  • Quality:  Do not presume that because a family is living there and drinking the water that you don't have to do a quality test. Just as you would expect City water to be tested, so should all rural sources of water. We don't claim to be experts on this. Some online sources are:

Septic:

If you've never lived with a septic system you don't have to avoid them but there are some things you should know about them.  Don't worry, there are lots of resources out there.