We cut our time short in AZ this spring because the rural water crews were scheduled to bore into our well pit and hook us up to the new Assiniboine & Sioux Rural Water Supply System. As it turned out, they were a day early so we got home to the tail end of their hookup. Things went well though, as our son was there to generally oversee things.

We've had water for a bit more than a month and we were comparing the event to when REA first came to the country. I was just a little guy when that happened but listening to folks, the general worry at that time seemed to be that most were worried about using enough power so they wouldn't be throwing money away by paying the minimum and not using it. Not all areas of NE Montana got power at the same time and my wife's uncle, living in rural Jordan, was one of the last to get it. The family ranch had a 110V Jacobs wind plant with two big sets of glass storage batteries. He told my FIL, that he doubted the REA would ever get to his place, and if they did, he would likely not hook up anyways as they had all the juice anyone could ever need. Turned out that they did come a few years earlier than he had predicted and he did hook up. The first trip that my FIL made down after they had REA, the uncle was totally impressed. Why you had all the power a guy could imagine and he could even weld while his wife was running the washing machine! Amazing.

So we were talking about our new rural water this morning. We previously had a shallow well that made about 5 gal. / minute and the water that came from it had deteriorated in quality since first being dug. I had an iron filter, water softener, and whole house R.O. system that used a lot of salt, and electricity to make the 150 gallons / day that we used. Water was livable but required a lot of maintenance and there was always anxiety about how much a guy could use and still have enough for showers in the evening. Not fun to run out of water just after a guy has sudsed up, and it did occasionally happen. The new stuff is very soft and no longer has any iron, calcium, or smell. Also a virtually unlimited supply. My wife was commenting how she could run both the washer and dishwasher this AM and not worry about no water for showers this evening.

The water project was initially funded by a law enacted in Oct. 2000 so it's been a while coming but I have to say it's really been worth the wait.