Barn Conversion - No Mains Water

[YeBullen]

Hi,

Hoping somebody on the forum may be able to advise. We would like to buy a barn in Penshurst, Kent - which has planning permission to convert into a 4 bedroom home. The problem is that the water utility main is over 1k/m away and it seems impossible that we would be able to run a new pipe, through private land / fields etc.

We are considering a borehole, but I am told there is no guarantee that we would strike water, and if we did unlikely to be high yielding, or good enough quality without costly filtration. So my questions are: -

1. Is it possible to tee off the sellers property water supply (which she is happy to do). Is it legal?, what are the risks involved with doing something like this.
2. Does anybody know about boreholes or the likelihood of striking water and if there is anyway of knowing for sure (not involving a person with a couple of rods walking about )...

It seems that it is just way too risky to purchase this barn if I cannot 100% guarantee a water supply. Anybody come up against a situation like this?

Thanks,

Matt.

 

[snowhead]

Contact a local Borehole drilling company, they'll have experience in the area and know likelyhood / depths / costs involved, probably even without a survey.
Unless it was someone similar who told you of no guarantee.

Teeing off an existing supply would depend on it's size and flow rate and the prospective use added by the barn as to whether it would be adequate.
What route does that supply run, if also across other land it may be possible to upgrade that to suit both properties, the advantage being they already have agreement for the route.

 

[exedon2]

Living out in the sticks have had this problem a few times
If existing supply is close first check pressure and volume no point connecting to it if it's already at its limit.
If ok put a water meter on your side of supply to sort out bills.
If you can connect to existing supply consider some sort of storage system.
How about a rain water harvesting system for toilet flushing outside taps ect? Done a number of those work well.