I'm Gus Halloran. I spent most of my working life at a county water utility and the years after that drilling and servicing private wells in the rural West.
This notebook is a field guide for households that want to depend on more than one water source: a well, a reserve in the garage, a barrel off the shop roof for the garden.
I have hauled water in August to ranches where the pump quit and help was two hours away. That is where most of what I write here comes from.
What I hold to: test before you treat; storage beats gadgets; a bucket, a filter and a plan cover most emergencies; extraordinary claims need a spec sheet; the cheapest reliable option wins; call the well driller before buying a kit.