For Those With Well Water and No Electricity, Going 'Old School' May Help
By Kim Glovas
WARRINGTON, Pa. (CBS) -- Some Delaware Valley residents whose homes have no electricity due to yesterday's ice storm (see related story) are wrestling with additional woes: no heat and, if they get their water from a well, no water.
One local business might have an answer to that last dilemma.
John Buehler Jr., president of FE Buehler and Son in Warrington, Pa., says most water wells are in areas where there is no municipal water supply.
When widespread electrical outages occur, he says, the solution may be a hand pump, like the ones you used to see on farms.
"A lot of different hand pumps were designed with bowls up at the top so that they would actually accumulate water," he notes. "And they had a little spigot on there, so that when you stopped pumping, you could open the spigot and actually wash your hands until the reservoir ran out."
Buehler says such pumps are still available but could run you up to $1,500 fully installed.
But he says that for those who find themselves without power -- and water -- for days at a time, it might be an investment that will pay off the next time the power goes out.