SWMBO and I are considering purchasing a house that uses well water and a septic system, I believe built in the mid-80's... having lived with city water/sewage all of my life, I have some concerns. I've read the usual pro/con articles on Google, but I'd like to get some first-hand experiences with them.
Water:
Power goes out, so no running water... pretty straightforward con, so do most solve it with a backup power source, or just "suck it up, Buttercup"? I imagine all minor taste/color issues are resolved with a decent reverse osmosis / water softener system?
Septic:
A bit more of a concern for me. We already don't throw grease and such down the drain (people do that?), but we do like our garbage disposal... I see some still use theirs, but is it really a problem with overloading the system? How often do you have solids pumped (I see estimates from every 2-20 years... pretty wide range!)? How long do the tanks/fields last if properly maintained, i.e., is this something we may need to replace soon if it's the original system? Other than tossing in some bacteria every few months and having it pumped every couple of years, is it pretty much like business as usual (it's the two of us and one child), assuming the system was cared for properly in the past?
Anything else I'm missing or should be concerned about with either system? Assuming the rest of the house is in good order, this seems like a good deal... more than double our current square footage and 2 acres of wooded/landscaped land.