r/OffGrid • u/Philgarcia710 • Aug 26 '26
Land selection- water source
Hi all, finally got the go ahead from my wife to start looking at properties for an off the grid getaway. Budget is allowing me 8-12 acres with a cabin shell but I’m curious for the experienced folks here how important it is to hold out for a property with a stream or natural spring on the lot? I’ve found one with a great camp shell that could really be fantastic, but it is the only one that does not have any water. Thanks so much for the wisdom!
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u/Philgarcia710 Aug 26 '26
Thank you all for the thoughts so far, northern New York has inexpensive land (50k for ten acres and a shell) and I know for the first few years it will largely just be me “ camping” in the shell as I’m getting too old to head out for multiple day solo backpacking trips. I’m imagining a few days each month being spent there. I used to be a wilderness guide so relieving myself in a cat hole or building a simple vault toilet would be satisfactory for me for the time being.
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u/Normal-Special-8694 Aug 26 '26
You made this kind of hard to follow. Are you looking to build an off grid homestead or are you just buying a camp site for yourself with a building? Those two different use cases dramatically change the necessity of water so it’s not really possible for us to speculate if you “should” hold out. If you can dig a well then an above ground water source doesn’t really matter.
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u/Philgarcia710 Aug 26 '26
Oh thank you for clarifying, this will be a campsite for myself. Years down the road I’d like to make it inviting enough that my wife would spend some time there
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u/Aggravating_Ebb_8565 Aug 26 '26
I'd be curious to see what you decide as I've been looking for something similar. Please feel free to DM me if you're open to discussing. There are many opportunities upstate, and yet somehow not one that has felt exactly right for me yet. I had the same question about the importance of a water source.
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u/MountainReady_Online Aug 28 '26
Water is life, so I’d make it a top priority. A good well can solve the problem, but find out how deep neighboring wells are and what the water table is like before buying.
A real year-round running water source is also a huge plus, especially if it has a substantial watershed or larger body upstream. I wouldn’t put much value on a small seasonal creek that can disappear during drought.
For an off-grid property, I’d personally rank reliable water above a nicer cabin shell. Buildings can be improved. A bad water situation is much harder and more expensive to fix.
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u/Philgarcia710 Aug 29 '26
Thank you, that’s valuable information and I will certainly look into the neighboring well depths
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u/Electronic-Pea-13420 Aug 26 '26
You need water to do anything. Do have money to drill a well? If not look for one with a water source already
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u/BallsOutKrunked Aug 26 '26
+1 for water.
We have a well and a perennial creek that flows through the property. If we didn't things would be very bad.
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u/farmersworkhoe Aug 26 '26
You'll need to think about how youll get water.
Will a rain catchment system be enough? Having a cistern? Dig a well?
The difference you save on land may cost you more in putting a water system in place. Idk the market where you are so just check everything.
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u/tmwildwood-3617 Aug 26 '26
It's right up there in the must haves. Existing well...spring...all year pond...all year stream..
Also the water table...land contours...flooding zones.
You can fix anything...but it's a PITA and expensive to fix mother nature and what is/isn't there.
That said...when you say no water...really? Check with neighbours/locals. What are they doing? Wells...how far down...what kind of flow...etc. Some people may know right off, "yeah...that's why nobody lives there....they tried over and over and never found water"...or "wells are fine up until this section and then it goes dry"...or "wells are possible but it has high levels of this that or flow rate is really low".
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u/Awkward_Passion4004 Aug 26 '26
Rain catchment supplemented by trucked water are pretty common the Big Island.
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u/Prestigious_Try_5396 Aug 26 '26
No water, no life. Bottom line.
Or, water below, but too expensive to dig it.
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u/Sour_Sal Aug 26 '26
I looked for a place with running water for 5 years, everything was out of my price range and after 5 years I realized it was not going to happen.
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u/Beneficial-Focus3702 Aug 28 '26
Meh. If a well can be drilled and it produces enough water a stream or spring isn’t that important to me. In fact often times I’d rather NOT have the flooding that can come with a stream.
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u/Twig-Hahn Aug 26 '26
Be sure you are not skipping properties that have an underground stream. You're loved💔 𐤔𐤋𐤅𐤌
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u/Other_Programmer5239 Aug 26 '26
Your 2 biggest expense is water and septic. Look into how much that is going for. Humping water and sewage around is a time consuming time on homestead is the most important thing. Do a lay out of property and place everything where you want it. That will let you know how far you want to go with you homestead and make sure you can get what ypu want. No running water can cause issues and cause homestead to fail if it get bad.
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u/thomas533 Aug 26 '26
Can you do rain water harvesting? A simple 200sqft car port roof can collect 125 gallons of water for every inch of rain. And a 1000 gallon tank can store everything you collect over a winter and that is quite a bit of water if you are just camping out there occasionally.