Some interesting questions here..

All my family on farm, have their own septic systems, most get them cleaned out once a year and the beds take care of the rest, I have never heard of them doing it more often then that.. other then one that has a holding tank but no bed, he gets his done on a regular 4 times a year.

As for the water.. hmmm, I would really look at why those places do not have water and I would be asking a lot of questions, I find it hard to believe that well done farms would ever choose to not have their own well, which makes me go hmmm, My older brothers place outside of Fort Mac is on a cistern system, the whole area is, they have around the same, with a family of four plus dogs and a big! house and yard, they tend to fill twice a month from what I can see.. but the water truck comes by the house weekly and they just put a sign in the window, fill or no fill..

Having said that, I know that in a few places I lived in alberta over the years, they had the system to collect the rain water to off-shoot the costs of bringing water in.. When I lived in Iqaluit, at least half the town was still on water tanks, and they were filled by-weekly for average household use, smaller houses but more people using the water per house.

If you do figure that you want one without a well, I second your plans, you figure out how to collect your own water as much as possible, it was a huge selling point to me that my place had a dug house well and a drilled back barn well.

Regardless of what the average is, make testing the water part of the buying process, they seemed surprised when I did that here but I figured knowing what I had in my water was a important part of the process and I track my well water, I can do it free once a year, I do shock my well which does the job quite well most of the time, but better safe then sorry.

Talk to the county office that does the water tests for the county you are looking at, it will give you a much clearer picture then anyone else will 🙂

Appreciate the input Farmgal. I remember visiting Nunavut and the signs everywhere about water conservation; may become a reality and Mrs HP may have to learn to live without 15 mins showers. Acreage living will bring adjustments for sure.

If anybody has experience in AB with cost of water and all, please let me know.

Hey as a liscenced journeyman plumber gasfitter whose installed septic systems I can say that typically you should have your tank pumped once a year to maintain proper system. As long as the pump works the rest of the time your tank will pump out on its own. Also some developments don't allow wells that's why lots of developments have cisterns. Testing the water is a good idea. Always good to know. If you have anymore questions feel free to message me I will offer what advice I can.

Also if worried about water storage can look at other options like grey water tank that uses rain it catches and such like that to run toilets and such. There's a few options around. There's even some nice solar options for pumps and heaters that work pretty good nowadays.

Properly installed septic system DOES NOT EVER HAS TO BE PUMP OUT. Do not drain your laundry and bath tub to your septic system and it works for ever. My first house I built 35 years ago and present I live in now for 20 years the septic was never cleaned.
As for water well have it tested first and if it is OK than once a year put half a cup of jawex in and your water is safe.
Henry

Well, living half way across the country, I can't help with the costs of water in that region, but I know that a working deep well was a requirement when I was house shopping. Here in Quebec, the notary would not even proceed with the paperwork until a water test was performed. It turned out better than bottled!
I would imagine that a cistern could be an option, but for me, only if I could fill it myself with rain water, ground well, spring, or something like that. This would be fine for washing and toilet flushing, and of course a Berkey or similar quality filter could take care of drinking water. In my area, there are many homes using ground water, and simply buy the 5 gallon jugs for drinking and put them on one of those refrigerator distributors.
As for our septic tank, we went through a couple years of having it pumped, but since we changed the company that pumped it, there has been no need for over 2 years now. I suspect that the other pumping company were not doing a thorough job in order to generate return visits. I have since nicknamed them from Mr vide-tout to Mr vide pas boucoup. We also pay attention to the soaps we use, making sure that none of them are antibacterial. An occasional dose of bacteria friendly treatment is all we do now.

It is highly recommended to pump out your system once a year. Yes you don't have to buy it is highly recommended. I know since I've installed a lot of them and worked on them. For warranty and such you have to. When they pump it out they are to leave 12-18 inches of the slurry in the bottom of the tank. That helps for the bacterial action to take place without losing it all. I know of places that have gone years without pumping out and yes it can work but it also affects how effective the tank is. And for the 150$ it costs to pump it out why not just pump it once a year. It helps everything be more efficient if properly maintained.

And for well systems it is very easy to shock your well. My grandfather was a well driller for many years till he passed away and I learned a lot from it. It's easy to shock it and will help clean the wel up. Will it last for ever probly not but it sure beats paying someone big dollars to shock it there way. And when you do shock it make sure it's a time your not gonna be around and using the water. It's good to allow it to sit for a day or two before draining the system.

I'm out past Parkland.My well is about 250ft deep.We have a lot of salt so rain water is better for the plants.Most banks won't carry a mortgage on land without a well,so I'm suprised about the cisterns. May be the taste of the water. A heads up-last I heard you couldn't subdivide in Parkland county.

I know in one subdivision by Beaumont they only allow cisterns because of the water level there. They don't want a lot of wells draining the water table. Or something to that effect. I personally have an artisan well and love it.

Thanks for the info Zana.

I just bought a load, April rains have not come and I was running low. Tanks didn't get filled full with rain water before winter as we only had about 9 inches of rain fall last year. I could have tried to get by but I like long hot showers.
That says 225 dollars. The receipt says "one load of water" they carry roughly 3000 gallons. That price is typical, you can order less but its cheaper to order a full tanker. I only have to do this once every 3 or 4 years or so, so its not a big deal.
Where ever you move to call the nearest town, or county office and ask for the location for the fill stations near you, then you can haul for yourself (much cheaper). Likely 3.75 to 4.25 dollars a cubic meter (225 gallons) if you haul.
It used to be that the fill stations took change but so many have been hit by meth heads that most places have switched over to using cards that you swipe. You may need to set up a account at the town or county office to prepay for a card.

You, a wife, couple kids.....a WAG would be 2500 3000 gallons a month, that's a lot to haul 200 ....400 gallons at a time (small trailer and tank) Rain water could cut that down by quite a bit.

Sorry-should have mentioned that others in my area have much shallower wells. We were told that the water down deeper would be nicer to drink. Not sure if that's the case,but the water table is high. I'm in the county of Lac Ste.Anne. We are north and west of Parkland and have fewer rules in some areas than Parkland. You can apparently look up all the well info on a well registry site.

I just bought a load, April rains have not come and I was running low. Tanks didn't get filled full with rain water before winter as we only had about 9 inches of rain fall last year. I could have tried to get by but I like long hot showers.
That says 225 dollars. The receipt says "one load of water" they carry roughly 3000 gallons. That price is typical, you can order less but its cheaper to order a full tanker. I only have to do this once every 3 or 4 years or so, so its not a big deal.
Where ever you move to call the nearest town, or county office and ask for the location for the fill stations near you, then you can haul for yourself (much cheaper). Likely 3.75 to 4.25 dollars a cubic meter (225 gallons) if you haul.
It used to be that the fill stations took change but so many have been hit by meth heads that most places have switched over to using cards that you swipe. You may need to set up a account at the town or county office to prepay for a card.

You, a wife, couple kids.....a WAG would be 2500 3000 gallons a month, that's a lot to haul 200 ....400 gallons at a time (small trailer and tank) Rain water could cut that down by quite a bit.

Yikes, that could mean upward of $2000/yr in water alone... Ideally yes, there'd also be an independent rain water system for toilets and laundry (and showers?) so as to spread the water usage further.