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I am interested in buying a home in Rapid City area with from 1/2 to 1 acre of land. Approximately how far out of city limits could I go and still have city water?
There are homes as far out as Box Elder that still have city water. Homes in Red Rock do too. Some older homes on the outskirts of town have wells because they were built before Rapid City stretched that far. It all depends.
It's not simetrical around the city. Years ago I saw a map that was called the "Comprehensive Planning Zone". On that map they showed which areas they expected the most growth and had the actual plans for water/sewer/power and such. Also, in that zone, the building code was more toward city specs and more stringent then the county specs.
The idea, as you can imagine, was to get the water and such to the areas that were going to be heavily populated. Also to get sufficient water to that area.
I'm not sure if that map is available on-line. Not even sure if it's available to the public at the court house.
What do you mean by rural water? Are you talking about what the county has in some areas or public wells? (public wells being a large community well feeding several places)
I know what you mean and I'll take a stab at it. There are areas of the state that have "rural water". Hanson County has it. I wish I understood it better, but they get their water out of a huge underground reservoir type thing. It's supposed to be extremely deep. The water is good so you don't need a water softener. BUT it's not cheap. They've built a few piplines to include several areas. For a better (or better explained version of it) you may try to google something like "Hanson County Rural Water".
Rural water project started in the late 70's early 80 when it was found that many farms had extremely hard water and contaminated wells I believe they were high in nitrates. The two projects that I am familiar with draw water from the Missouri River and have treatment plants. The water is treated and then piped to area farms and towns and cities. You will often see large holding tanks around the country side. Considering the excellent quality of the water I don't feel that it's expensive at all. We were able to discontinue using a water softener when we finally were hooked up. Plus there was a reduction in the amount of detergent used not to mention that we don't have faucets, hot water heaters and appliances corroding. Many people fought rural water systems in the beginning and didn't hook up....it wasn't too long before they wanted to join. My city water bill for about 3500 gallons this month was 25.80 and that also includes the sewer. 10000 gallons would be 54.85. I don't consider that as being expensive because I know that the bill also helps cover the expenses of personnel and maintenance of city water lines
Rural water is common in Eastern South Dakota and Northwest Iowa to my knowledge. My parents in rural Lincoln County and grandparents in NW Iowa have rural water and the water is very good quality and is often better in quality than in the towns. Regarding waste, septic tanks are used. I do not know the in and outs of how it works mechanically but contacting a rural water system such as Jammie mentioned would be helpful.
DPF, you're right. That sounds very reasonable. I don't know if it would have anything to do with location or if the prices have gone down since the initial cost of the pipelines may have been paid off by now. But it was nothing to have a monthly water bill of $35 a month on upward to $50 a month during the summer months. AND that was 20 years ago.
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