It's October 2026 here on the coast of Maine and we are in extreme drought. Here's a map of the drought conditions:
|
| Maine drought October 2026 |
The arrow points to my approximate location. So I'm 9-12" below normal and the ground is going to freeze in the next month or so. When that happens the ground water cannot be replenished and we have LONG winters here in Maine!
Here's a map of wells that have run dry in Maine - the red arrow points to my approximate location.
This is deeply concerning to me. My well has never run dry - YET! I think it is about 150ft deep but I live close to a reservoir so I hope that the water table is sustained by that. Although the water level in the lake is down by about 12" now.
So I'm preparing for the worst as best as I can. I have moved the 50 Gallon rain barrel that normally sits on my front porch to my basement. (I use it in the summer to water my vegetable beds to take the load off my 1500W well pump).
I mounted it up on cinder blocks so it is high enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket if needed for toilet flushing etc.
 |
| Rain barrel |
This was a commercial rain barrel, but you can buy used fertilizer barrels for about $20 and all you need to do is drill a hole near the bottom and mount a hose spigot to it. (Definitely rinse them out thoroughly first!). If you live in Midcoast Maine - Ames Hardware on Route 1 sell them). I have filled it from a garden hose connected to the drain spigot next to my well pump and will keep that hose in the basement where it won't freeze. This should provide drinking and cooking water and toilet flushing for a while.
But if I use up this water, the next option is to get water from the nearby boat ramp to the lake. I would need to fill 5-gallon buckets that I can bring home in my car. This will be challenging in the winter in sub freezing conditions! I plan to use a self-priming pump that works from a cordless drill to get water from a hole I can drill through the ice. Here's a link to this affordable pump.
 |
| drill pump |
If there is snow on the ground I could fill buckets with that and then dump it in the barrel to let it melt. My basement stays warm because I have a large wood stove down there that is big enough to heat the whole house.
But this water could be contaminated with bacteria or dirt. So I have a very good water filter setup in my kitchen that has 2 large activated carbon filters in it:
 |
| Gravity fed water filter (click image to buy on Amazon) |
I use the jug on the right to fill the top half and the water then gravity feeds through the 2 filters in the top into the bottom half:
 |
| Activated carbon filters inside |
Currently I use this just to remove the copper taste from the plumbing - my water quality is otherwise very good (I had it tested).
But to be safe I also have a submersible UVC sterilizing wand that I can submerge in either the rain barrel or the top half of the water filter to kill any bacteria. Running that for a half hour should be more than sufficient. Here's a link to this device.
I hope you find this information helpful!
