Stable yard on a water meter ??

Flicker51

Flicker51

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Hi all
have just found that the property I am hoping to move to with 3 horses is on a water meter. Does anyone have experience of this and does it make it hugely expensive if running a small yard of 3 -5 horses/ponies.
There is no other source of water apart from catching roof water but I'm not sure how healthy this is for equine drinking ?
Any advice gratefully received. Thanks !:)
 
We're on a water meter here: it certainly makes you think before using a drop!!!

What you need to consider is how far is the actual inlet from the mains in relation to the property/yard itself. Ours is a quarter of a mile away across a ten-acre field - when we had a leak recently it was a nightmare to trace the source of the leak back. So you need to bear that in mind.

But on an everyday basis; TBH I'd prefer a meter than a flat water rate. Our last bill (for water only) was £246 which was from the period January to April of this year. This is for two adults in the dwelling-house and six horses, plus some sheep. We get an additional bill occasionally for sewarage disposal charges/run-off as we've got a septic tank and are not connected to mains sewarage here - that's about £20 or thereabouts, think its every quarter but not sure.

The main problem is leaks IME: the water company is ONLY responsible for leaks their end, i.e. if it occurs on the service pipe between their meter and your yard/house, then tough, you pay for the detection and repair of same, which can be a headache - and blimmin expensive.

Sorry meant to day that we've installed water bowsers on all the roofs here to catch the rainwater. As long as its fresh and hasn't been standing too long our horses actually seem to prefer it to tap water and its useful in all sorts of ways for washing feet/legs etc etc. When the mains pipes froze up last winter we could ONLY get water out of the rainwater butts - and boiled it up in a kettle and drunk that - we're still living to tell the tale!

There IS a device called "Elimaleak" which is basically a leak detection radio-signal device. It will tell you if there's a leak anywhere on the property by bleeping at you. I can give you the name of the company which installed it, they're based here in the SW but don't know if they go further afield.
 
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Thanks - thats really helpful - we haven't put the troughs in yet so its worth bearing in mind !
How long does the water stay fresh in the bowser - numpty question I know :o but mine currently have a river or mains fed trough so no experience of collected water......i guess they will often drink out of fairly stagnant ponds but I've always been concerned about algae covered troughs etc :)
 
We are metered on agricultural rate. We pay approx £18 per quarter. This is for 3 horses, 3 geese (need baths) and the cats, and I don't skimp the water in any way. If I need to wash the yard down or the stables I do it, and the boys have regular baths.

Keep your eye on leaks though. A good way to check is to turn everything off and watch the meter. If it stops as well you are okay, if it's still going then you have a problem. We have had 2 leaks both from joints near to taps so they were easy to fix, once we found them. The leakage was expensive so now we have a weekly check and thus far that has sorted it all out.
 
Not sure if it is still the case ,but back in the day, the water company tried to charge us at a higher rate because they hadnt taken into account ,that we wernt on mains drainage.Nearly halved the bill when this was corrected.
 
I have my yard on a water meter - agricultural supply to field it says on the bill.
My half yearly bills are around £27-30 - this is currently for 2 big horses & 1 tiny one.
I have waterbutts from the guttering, which we use for washing feed buckets out with & also for water for feet washing (horses & our boots in winter).
Hosepipe from main yard tap runs up the fields to supply water tanks in paddocks.
I dont skimp on water at all & if we want to bath every day, we do - or I wash the car etc too. Water buckets fresh each day throughout winter when in.

I do have just the 1 main tap - and in winter turn the water off each night in the manhole as this really helps in preventing the tap in freezing up.

The only time the bill has shot up was around 8 years ago when I had 12 head of young cattle in to hover up 3 acres or so - the water consumption shot through the roof while they were with me! :eek:

Make sure your yard/field supply is metered seperately from the house & you should be ok :)
 
I run a yard of upto 30 horses and am on a meter. All roofs are Asbestos so for me havesting the rainwater would be too much of a worry for drinking though we do utilise it for washing horses legs and feet in the winter and our muddy boots. I fitted automatic drinkers in each stable a few years ago to and I'm confident these are paying for them selves. Previously I found people were just chucking gallons of water away each day. I also installed automatic fillers to field water troughs so taps didn't get left to overflow. My bill varies between £190 and £240 a quater.
 
Oooo interesting thread. I rent a field that I winter my horses in to save my own grazing for summer when they are out 24/7.

It's adjacent to my fields and is about 2 acres. It has a trough which automatically fills up and is about a yard from the water mains. I pay a good price for rental and have done so for 18 years (cash in hand...no contract). Local farmer ;)

He has informed me that he has received a £10,000 water bill and is claiming £4,000 from me..... this is a field I use 4 months a year 12 hours a day max. for 2 horses.....and he will be on agricultural rates.

All your responses to OPs question has given me the ammunition to tell him where to stick his 4 grand! :D:D
 
Well having just done the sums ( I hope correctly ) I estimate that the maximum you might owe him is approx £432. That is based on our usage for 3 horses. This is considerably better than £4k!!!!!!!!! Maybe he has misplaced his decimal point??

I would be telling him to dream on I think.
 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with catching rainwater from roofs and you will find that the horses prefer this water to tap water. I have no water at all in my field, so collect all my water from the roof of my stable - I have 5 water butts attached to the roof and these see me through the entire year for my horse. Sometimes the water does not get used quickly - for a few months - like this summer that has been constantly wet, but the water is still fine because it is covered over so never goes stagnant.
I would get collecting if I were you as it will save you lots of £'s in the long run if you are on a meter.
 
Suelin said:
Well having just done the sums ( I hope correctly ) I estimate that the maximum you might owe him is approx £432. That is based on our usage for 3 horses. This is considerably better than £4k!!!!!!!!! Maybe he has misplaced his decimal point??

I would be telling him to dream on I think.
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Thanks Suelin - have passed on to my OH as said farmer doesn't deal with 'the fairer sex!'
 
4x4 said:
What are the rules for agricultural rates - does it need to be an agricultural dwelling with an ag-tag? We may be on the wrong tariff!
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I'd be interested in this too...

Good to hear about the water butts - one of the ponies will only drink river water so I suspect he might be a bit averse to chlorinated tap water anyway !:D

Thanks to everyone for your answers:)
 
We do not have an Agricultural tie to our house but we do have a Parish holding number on the land which is about 5 minutes walk away down the road. The land has it's own water supply. Speaking with my farmer neighbours it would seem that their house is on a domestic tariff and the farm separately.

In our case (our house is not metered) it would have been cheaper for us to have all the water on one bill but the water authority wouldn't have it so we had to do it separately. I told them that the water was for a water trough for animal use and they decided I think that we would have the agricultural rate. Give them a ring, I found them very helpful.

Hope this helps.
 
It could be that there is a major leak on the water pipe underground. I once got a massive bil, over £8000 for a quarter, and found that I had a burst pipe. No sign of it above ground as it was finding its way into a ditch. Unfortunately, the user is responsible for the burst pipe if it is your side of the meter, and all bills relating to it, even if it is not your fault. I had to pay and made sure that I fixed the leak FAST!!!
 
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