how much is water worth?

[bdog]

I bought my house and 5 acres from someone who owns 160 acres which they farmed and this house was on. They still own the other 155 acres which was at one time an irrigated cotton farm. They are elderly and decided to quit farming and thus sold me the house and 5 acres and got all of the rest of the land into CRP. There is a irrigation well that runs on electric that is about 400' from my property that works but they will no longer need. I am thinking of trying to make a deal with them to buy water (use of the well) to irrigate my 5 acres and plant a commercial garden probably watermelons. My house well can not handle it.

I have no idea what would be a fair price for the water. I don't ever see them using the well again, and watering my 5 acres is not going to put any kind of strain on this well that once watered 160 acres. Also I don't know if it matters but water is pretty easy to find here, nearly all the farms around us are irrigated, but the qoute for drilling a new well, the pump, etc is more than I can afford to spend.

I was thinking maybe offering to pay the electric bill for the well plus some multiple of the bill so that I am paying for what I use. What do you think? I pay the electric bill plus an amount equal to the water bill to them? I want to be fair to them, but don't want to overpay.

 

[JimR]

How about free veggies for them instead?

 

[Alan L.]

I'd say pay the electric and some more. Unless I'm wrong, I think you would be doing them a favor. Nothing worse for a water well than to sit idle.

 

[goodoleboy]

Now that know its worth something to you they will more than likely want top dollar.. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I see the electric and maybe what the city or county charges per every 1000 gallons of water. Where we live it $2 for every 1000 gallons. Fairly cheap if you ask me.

 

[Egon]

If you do use their well best have a proper lease/easement document drawn up with all the details.

If this water will be used for irrigation for profit operation Yow don't want to lose it in the middle of a growing season.

It's legal advice time! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif And will probably be well worth the cost! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon

 

[EddieWalker]

My concern is more towards upkeep. What happens if you're using their well and it stops working? Will they blame you or hold you responsible?

 

[turnkey4099]

Were I the well owner, I would want it in a contract with everythign spelled out, rates, permissable useage, times (if it is noisy), and who maintains it.

Harry K

 

[v8dave]

You need to be concerned about access and costs after they sell the property. What if you agreed to pay the well costs and a commercial operation started up? What if it was sold and you were cut off in the middle of a growing season?

One more vote for legal advice.

 

[BillyP]

Why not just come out and ask him what he would lease the use of the well for? Lease it for X amount of years. That way if something does happen, you'll at least know when your water will be cut off /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[bayoublue]

I have an 8" water well powered by a 6 cyl. JD deisel....if a rice farmer (on an adjacent field) wants my water, I pay for the deisel & the maintenance in exchange for 20% of his crop.

 

[bdog]

Thanks for the advice. They are not selling the land anytime soon. I have already tried to buy it, but they won't sell. They have it in a 7 yr CRP contract which pays them X dollars per year. We already have a handshake agreement that if they ever decide to sell I get first shot at it.

As to noise, etc I am the only one that lives within 1/4 mile of this well. They do not live on this property anymore. They used to live in the house I bought, but they moved to town.

I see some of your points on the legal advice, and I will give that some consideration.

Someone said $2/1000gal. It takes 27,154 gallons to put one inch of water on an acre so every time I water if I use 1" of water I am going to use 135,770 gallons for a cost of $271.54. Assume I water once a week for a 3 month growing season that is over $3000 for water which is way to much for this to be profitable.

 

[bczoom]

bdog,

My math came up with the same results you did.
A couple questions
Do you really need to water 1" per week?
Can mother nature help?
Do watermelons need that much water?
Are you going to grow in all 5 acres or does the house/lawn take up some of that acreage?

Goodoleboy's quote of $2/1000 is about what we pay for city water as well but I honestly don't think that well water would be of the same value. Outside of maintaining the well pump, there's no overhead, costs, treatment... of well water.

I would talk to the owners to see what they think would be an amiable price and work from there. Also consider/address the points others have mentioned (lease, failure of pump...)

 

[Highbeam]

It seems to me that there is no real value to them in that well. I would offer to purchase the well along with an easement for you to run the waterline and electrical service to your property. The older they are, the more they value the dollar and the less likely they are to get greedy (basicly they're fair) in my experience.

You want the whole well. Forever.

 

[goodoleboy]

The $2 for every 1000 gallon is the going rate from the rural water dist. which in Oklahoma is a state agency. Everyone pays the same rate farmers or residential from my understanding. I own 2 properties in 2 different water districts and its the same price.

 

[cowboydoc]

From a farming aspect that water could be worth more than the land! In the west and alot of the south where there is no rainfall water rights and well rights are oftentimes worth many times the value of the land. I can't say for sure in TX but if it was in the western states that water would be worth a heck of alot more than the $3000.

 

[hobbyfarm]

Like the commercial says: <font color="red">Priceless</font>

Here in our area we irrigate through the county. Water here is $24.00 an Acre/Foot. You should be able to buy it at a similar rate (+/-).