The plain-language guide to water on your own land.

Stu Campbell was a Vermont homesteader and one of Storey’s most trusted practical authors — his composting guide Let It Rot! has sold more than 340,000 copies. This book came from the same place: a working knowledge of what people managing their own land actually need to understand. It covers the full private water cycle: finding water on your property (springs, seeps, shallow aquifers, deeper wells), understanding the hydrology that determines where water is and why, building and maintaining well systems, purification and treatment, storage tanks and cisterns, gravity-fed and pressure distribution systems, and conservation.

The reason it’s been in print for more than forty years — unusual for a technical reference — is that the fundamentals it covers are genuinely durable. The hydrology of how springs form and where wells find water doesn’t change. The principles of sizing a storage tank, siting it correctly, and distributing water by gravity or pressure haven’t been superseded. What has changed is the regulatory and treatment landscape: EPA drinking water standards have been updated many times, PFAS contamination wasn’t known in 1983, and water treatment technology has advanced significantly. The section below identifies exactly what still holds and what to verify against current sources before acting on it.

If you’re on a private well or spring, or planning to be, this is the reference to start with. Keep your state’s well construction code beside it for anything requiring a permit, and pair it with our First 72 Hours guide for the water storage and purification guidance that applies whether you’re on private or municipal supply. More depth on water systems lives in our Self-Reliance guides.

Level

Self-reliant systems — private wells, springs & rural land

Best for

Water, Sanitation & Health

Format

241 pages · Storey classic · 1983

Reading a 1983 classic

What still holds up — and what to verify before you act on it.

This book is 40+ years old. Most of it is as accurate as the day it was written. A few areas need checking against current standards before you rely on them for health decisions.

What still holds up

Site assessment for water sources. The hydrology of how springs, seeps, and shallow aquifers form — and how to read a landscape to find them — is unchanged. Campbell’s site assessment approach is as useful as it ever was.
Well siting and design concepts. Setback reasoning, casing principles, depth estimation, and the logic of protecting a well from surface contamination remain sound.
Storage sizing and gravity distribution. Tank sizing calculations, siting principles, and gravity-fed system design are engineering fundamentals that haven’t changed.
Watershed protection. Understanding what happens upstream from your water source — and why land use on neighboring parcels matters — is perennially relevant.
Conservation principles. Demand awareness, system efficiency, and the logic of matching supply to real household need are durable throughout.

What to double-check

Water quality standards. EPA Maximum Contaminant Levels have been updated many times since 1983. For current limits, start at EPA Private Wells and your state’s well program.
PFAS contamination. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances weren’t understood in 1983 — they weren’t in anyone’s book. Private well owners in many regions need current EPA PFAS guidance before drawing conclusions about water safety.
Lead components. Lead solder was banned from potable plumbing in 1986; some fittings and pipe materials used in 1983 are now known to leach chemicals. If your system has older components, verify against current NSF/ANSI 61 standards.
Treatment technology. Reverse osmosis, UV disinfection, and modern membrane filtration have advanced significantly. Compare Campbell’s treatment recommendations against current NSF-certified options before purchasing equipment.

What people are saying

Forty years on, still the first book to reach for.

The gist — summarized

A 1983 technical reference that holds a 4.6–4.7 rating after four decades in print is saying something. Readers who own private wells or springs consistently describe it as the clearest, most approachable starting point for understanding their systems — not theoretical, not overwhelming, but practical in the way that Vermont-practical tends to mean: oriented toward what you actually need to do and why. The fundamentals it covers (site assessment, well concepts, storage, distribution, conservation) are repeatedly confirmed as still sound and useful. Campbell’s plain-language style is regularly cited as a specific advantage over more academic or jargon-heavy alternatives.

The honest limitation is exactly what you’d expect from a 1983 book: some technology sections are dated, and the water quality and treatment guidance predates significant EPA rule changes and the discovery of PFAS contamination. Readers who have used the book successfully tend to treat it as it’s intended — as a fundamentals reference — and turn to current sources for anything health-critical. That’s the right way to read it, and the “what to double-check” section above makes that navigation explicit.

An AI-assisted summary of reader feedback, written for orientation — not a substitute for reading them. Note: this is a 1983 technical reference; major publications don’t typically review homesteading classics. Summary is based on reader responses. Last reviewed May 2026.

Reader reviews

We’re building a space for New World Survival readers to weigh in on the books on this shelf — real reviews from people building the same skills you are. It’s coming soon. In the meantime, borrow this one and see for yourself.

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