From the Publisher
The subtitle for this attractive paperback is "An Out-of- the-City Guide to Pumps, Plumbing, Water Purification, and Privies," and it deftly fulfils its promise. Mr. Burns uses humor interspersed with excellent illustrations to convey technical information in layman's terms. He provides a comprehensive overview of all possibilities... the pros and cons of each alternative are thoroughly examined. (Gordon Bock and Lynn elliot, May/June, 1996, Old-House Journal)


From the Publisher
The do-it-yourselfer's dream for household water systems. Cottage Water Systems is a well-written, well-illustrated guide to providing your "cottage" (or rural home) with water-in and water-out. It clearly explains water supplies, water quality, water in winter (very important), and wastewater. Includes troubleshooting guides for common problems. (Larry Dieterich, Whole Earth Review #85, Spring 1995, Special Water Edition)


From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by Ilene Rosoff
Written as a comprehensive guide for designing and building water systems for off-the-beaten-path dwellings, Cottage Water Systems is a how-to manual for harnessing a variety of water sources and their necessary peripherals (i.e., pumps, toilets, filtration systems). Chapters cover finding water, putting together a pump system, plumbing, water testing and purification, outhouses, winterizing and the plethora of details any water do-it-your-selfer needs to concern themselves with. This book is worth reading just as an education on home water technology. And it goes beyond putting in a water system for your weekend cabin; the chapters on alternative toilets and on water purification systems are useful to any home dweller. As the proud owner of a septic tank, I found the chapter on septic systems highly informative, particularly in terms of its care and feeding (had I read it sooner I could have probably avoided the $150 I just shelled out to have mine siphoned).


About the Author
Max Burns has been a freelance writer since 1981. The subjects Max writes about are as varied as his interests-- everything from butter tarts to motorcycles. He is currently building a passive solar home in northern Ontario, he and his wife doing all the work including installing the septic system, digging the well, designing and installing the house plumbing, and relocating the outhouse. Martha (a 90-pound Newfie-Shepherd) and Cat (self-explanatory) sometimes assist with construction. A curriculum vitae of writing and related experience. Books The Dock Manual (The Ultimate Book About Planning, Building, and Buying Residential Docks), to be published spring/1999 by Storey Communications Inc. Cottage Water Systems (An Out-of-the-City Guide to Pumps, Plumbing, Water Purification, and Privies), ISBN 0-9696922-0-X, 1993. The Winged Wheel Patch (A History of the Canadian Military Motorcycle and Rider), co-authored with Ken Messenger, ISBN 0- 920277-85-3, 1993. Collections (various authors) Harrowsmith Country Life Reader, ISBN 0-944475-09-4, 1990. The Cottage Book, ISBN 1-895261-03-1, 1991. Docks and Projects, ISBN 0-9696922-1-8, 1994. Magazines General Interest: Cottage Life, Harrowsmith, Harrowsmith's Country Life (US), Outdoor Canada Special Interest: Snow Goer (Cdn), Water Goer, Photo Life Motorcycle: Cycle Canada (since 1981 Max has been at times a contributor, a contributing editor, an associate editor, a monthly columnist, and a feature editor), MDT (Cdn motorcycle trade journal), (Qubec) Moto Journal, (U.S.) Cycle World, Rider, Motorcyclist, Iron Horse, (Australia) Two Wheels, (England) Motorcycle International, (Germany) Motorrad Reisen & Sport Seminars and other media Hosted and participated in four seminars at the Cottage Life Show in Toronto (1994-96). Wrote and performed a live, weekly segment on CBC radio's Morning North show titled "Max at the Cottage". Keynote speaker at the 1995 Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association annual general meeting in Winnipeg. Various TV appearances and radio interviews, including Morningside with Peter Gzowski on national CBC radio. Awards Max has been nominated for seven Canadian National Magazine Awards, winning one gold, three silver, and three honorable mentions. Motorcycle Award for Excellence in Journalism, 1994, for the The Winged Wheel Patch.


From the Publisher
One ancient method of locating that elusive aquifer is witching, also known as dowsing, divining, or a bunch of hooey- balooey. There's no basis in science for this practice, but since the same could be said for a lot of things humanity embraces as fact, it's worth considering. The witch (dowse or divining rod) is a Y-shaped implement about 30 cm (12 in.) long at the bottom of the Y, the two upper branches each being about 40 cm (16 in.) long, although the measurements aren't set in stone. Neither is the rest of the hocus-pocus. The rod can be anything from a willow branch to rusty coat hangers (I'm not sure if the rust is essential), and there are as many methods of holding it as there are crooked politicians. When I was considering a new well, I called on neighbour Jurgen because he claimed to have once witched and found water. Jurgen's also a traditionalist. He insists the rod be cut from a suitable tree growing in the area to be witched, and is particular about the manner in which the witch is held: With forearms bent at the elbows and held out in front, hands palm- side up, you clasp the forks of the Y, the end of the Y pointing outward and slightly upward in front of you. Then you walk around the yard with this backwards slingshot in your hand, hoping no one who hasn't read the above paragraphs will stop and ask what the heck it is you're doing. Jurgen and I headed off in different directions, not wanting the findings of one witcher to influence the other. About a half hour into our choreographed tramp about the yard, the end of the puny Y-shaped stick I was holding suddenly pulled at my arms, pointing to the ground with alarming force. The intensity of this hyperactive stick was such that I strained muscles trying to hold onto it. I was dumbfounded, unable to do anything but laugh as some of the red in my neck found a more appropriate home in my face. Jurgen came over and, without knowing the location of my find, confirmed the results with his witch. So we fired up Waldo, the backhoe, and went digging. Voila, water. The only thing missing was the scientific proof, not to mention a cottage within easy reach of this new-found source of water. But I can't fault the witching for that. Custom has it that not all of us are capable of witching. Certainly, during the witching spree at our cottage, neither my wife nor son noticed any unusual behaviour exhibited by their carefully chosen sticks. As Chief Dan George said in the movie Little Big Man, "Sometimes the magic works; sometimes it doesn't." --- [Water] is the consummate capricious companion, a flirtatious molecule that has intimate relations with just about everything it meets. It's as close as you can get to the universal solvent, the secret ingredient that makes hot chocolate or coffee drinkable, and the excuse to leave the dishes "to soak". In fact, if nature were forced to print a list of ingredients on the side of each glass of water, as required for most other food products, its length could easily surpass that of the list adorning the family's preferred junk food. And it's quite conceivable such a list would vary from glass to glass over a few days, weeks, or months, even if all were drawn from the same lake or well. But is this bad? We don't want perfectly pure water because H2O on its own has no taste. What we want is good tasting, healthful drinking water. Deciding what that is, and how to achieve it, is another matter. In both cases, we soon discover that when it comes to water, science is far from exact. {While science can tell us with some degree of certainty when the water is unsafe, it cannot tell us with the same certainty that the water is safe.} The problem is that we are dealing with two major variables: humanity and water. Susceptibility to contaminants differs for every individual and for every body of water. And even if we were able to eliminate the variables, science is still undecided as to how little of a given substance it takes to harm an individual, a fact reflected in the wide variance in official water-quality standards throughout North America. But to put these potential hazards into perspective, the most dangerous aspect of water for cottagers is that people drown in it. Statistically, we are much more likely to succumb to this tragedy than any that might result from drinking the water. --- Bacteria are microscopic, single-celled organisms, weighing in at about one-trillionth of a gram each. Without bacteria, we wouldn't have yoghurt, or vinegar for the fries, or cheese for the burger. On the pathogenic side of things, dysentery is the most likely bacterial ailment to afflict us via the water. But the majority of bacteria only show a serious interest in things that are dead, and who's to complain at that point? Protozoa are also microscopic, single-celled organisms, only slightly larger than and one step up the evolutionary ladder from bacteria (the difference having to do with where each parks its DNA). Two examples of pathogenic protozoa with water wings are Giardia, the courier of giardiasis, better known as beaver fever, and Entamoeba. Either can double your annual budget for toilet paper in a matter of weeks. Cysts are the tanks of the microorganism army, essentially bacteria or protozoa with armour plating, an outer coating taht protects these microbes against hostile attacks (by disinfectants or cold temperatures, for instance). Giardia is the most prevalent water-borne pathogenic cyst in North America, the protozoa becoming encysted (that is, donning their armour) just before leaving home-sweet-intestine, and losing it again once inside their next host. Although many biologists suggest that, technically speaking, viruses are not organisms, viruses are still considered to be microorganisms. The confusion lies in their cell structure: Viruses don't have any which, according to some scientists, classifies them as nonliving. Scientific debates aside, viruses are smaller than bacteria, and are parasitic, dependent on their host cells for life and propagation. (Sound a bit like lawyers, don't they?). The hosts can be bacteria, plants, or animals. In water there are more viruses than all forms of bacteria combined. Although not all viruses are harmful to humans, pathogenic viruses are responsible for many of humanity's diseases, including the water-borne downer infectious hepatitis. Billions of microorganisms can be lurking in a single glass of water. And it only takes a very small percentage of this crowd--the pathogenic content--to make you very sick. (It's difficult to quantify how few pathogens are required to make you sick and how sick you may become; it depends on the individual immune system and its ability to fight off the pathogens.) So if we can't see them, how do we know if the pathogens are present? We get the water tested. --- Water is like a world traveller who embarks having packed only the necessities, then picks up all sorts of stuff along the way. At each new border crossing, some overworked customs officer must check out this traveller's ever-expanding load of baggage. The officer must know what to look for, how to find hidden contraband, and what to do should any be found. The customs officer and the typical water-treatment device have much in common. --- Cottage plumbing is a partnership of opposites: the supply system and the waste system. The supply system consists of two sub-systems--the incoming system and the inside-the-cottage pressure system--while the waste system is everything on the exit side of the plumbing, even if it's pressurized (as it is with a sewage pump, for instance). For water to complete the loop from earth to cottage and back to earth, each component of the water system must be doing its part. Failure at any point can threaten not only the frivolous stuff such as having a shower and flushing the loo, but also the essentials, such as producing ice cubes for the lemonade. --- On average, each person living in North America produces between 275 and 350 litres (75-95 US gal.) of sewage per day from all sources. I don't know who measured it or how, but those are the figures--our combined individual contribution to the dilemma of dispersal. Where does it all go? One flush (or maybe two) of the toilet and it's gone, thank goodness. And it's the same with the stuff we chuck down the kitchen drain. Does it really matter where it ends up? --- An aerobic system is a modified septic tank in which air is pumped into the sewage. If you've ever indulged in the fine art of blowing through a straw to make a chocolate milk shake bubble, you already understand the basic principle. The air bubbles encourage aerobic bacteria to take up residence in one's sewage. (Hint: Use an approved aerobic system, rather than a straw, for introducing bubbles to your septic tank.) Aerobic sewage eaters work more efficiently than their anaerobic pals, consuming more sludge, so the sewage gets broken down more before making its run out to the leaching bed. --- Once upon a time, long, long ago, Grandma left the farm to visit her daughter (Mom, to me and my brothers). It was an arduous and lengthy train ride from northern Manitoba to the city in southern Ontario, but that didn't bother her. Nor did the hectic pace of an urban existence. In fact, there wasn't much she missed about the farm that had consumed most of her life--where she and Granddad had built their log home and barn, raised 16 kids, and survived the Depression. Surprisingly, Grandma didn't even seem to miss Granddad, who had opted to stay in Manitoba to round up the cows with his brand-new '51 Studebaker. No, Grandma loved the city, and might have stayed there except for one thing: our wretched indoor plumbing. Truth was, Grandma sorely missed the joys of kicking open the backhouse door to watch the stars stitch a night sky together, to see the swirling rainbow negligees of the northern lights or the acres of wheat set aglow by a red-ball sun kissing the horizon good morning or good night. To hear Grandma tell it, even the barnyard drenched in all-day rain had it all over staring at our avocado tub with matching shower curtain. So Grandma packed up her yearnings and took the train back to the farm and her outdoor loo. There are those who might pooh-pooh such romance as the foolish nostalgia of an old woman, but they miss the point of the outhouse, its raison d'etre in these modern, and decidedly indoor, times. The porcelain john is a 24-hour convenience, built for the Ex Lax pace of city dwellers. An outhouse, on the other hand, is the original restroom: a place to sit, think, and sometimes stink. Just yesterday morning I frittered away a moment in silent repose, outhouse door jammed open as it usually is, contemplating absolutely nothing as seven ruffed grouse balanced awkwardly on the top twigs of the closest birch tree, doing the same as me. Beyond lay the meadow and wetland draped in morning mist, enveloped in the mysterious sounds of the woods. From this hilltop vantage point a hop, skip, and jump from the cottage, I could almost see our leaching bed. It's tough to beat the view. --- Using either electricity, natural gas, or propane as its energy source, an incinerating toilet heats the sewage to about 650 degrees C (1200 degrees F) or so, boiling away the liquid and then converting the residue to a powdery ash. (According to rebellious members of my family, this process bears more than a casual resemblance to my bouts at the cottage barbecue.) --- Grey water (also known as sullage) is the water, soap and miscellanea we create whenever we rinse or wash something-- all the cottage's liquid waste, excluding the fecal and urinary stuff handled by the toilet. While the main contaminant in grey water is phosphorus, principally from modified soaps and detergents, the list of ingredients is only limited by what is available to scrub off; it often includes bacteria (like fecal coliforms), protozoa, viruses, animal greases, and petroleum- based whatevers (which can include everything from man-made edible goodies to paints and solvents). In fact, all of this and more can blossom from a single wash-up for dinner. So how do you get rid of it?

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Updated with a 1999 source list this book is essential for all owners of cottages, cabins, camps, chalets, and other property not on a municipal water system—in fact, anybody who ever has to prime a balky pump, deal with a septic system, fix a frozen pipe or worry about the purity of their drinking water.

Cottage Water Systems explains in a clear, straightforward style how each component of the water system works and discusses the pros and cons of the various options and solutions available. This well-illustrated book includes hundreds of tips on installation and repair as well as extensive troubleshooting guides to help readers save time and money while avoiding headaches. Along the way, it helps steer readers through local government regulations and explains how to keep the cottage's environmental impact low.

Written by Max Burns, winner of several National Magazine Awards for how-to articles, and edited and published by Cottage Life magazine, Cottage Water Systems includes: how to choose the pump that's right for your property a guide to water quality and types of water purifiers foolproof methods for priming your pump the ins and outs of composting and other alternative toilets how to extend the life of your septic system step-by-step instructions for closing the cottage in the fall and opening it in the spring plans for building a first-class outhouse ways to get water in winter an extensive and 1999 revised list of North American sources for water-system components plus wells, gray-water systems, and much more.

About the Author:

Max Burns is a regular contributor to Cottage Life magazine, and has won several national magazine awards for his work. He lives in Toronto.

FROM THE CRITICS

WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women - Ilene Rosoff