Seems like there's someone on this site who has the answer to about any question, so here goes mine.

I just bought a 4-acre piece of lakeshore near Grand Rapids, MN and it has a 36x48 insulated pole building on it, with about half of it turned into living quarters. The property only has an outhouse, no running water.

I plan to put a bathroom (toilet, shower, laundry) in the building and run fresh water to the kitchen sink, and I got a quote for a new well which was $6000 plus the water will not be very good I was told (lots of iron) so I looked into a filtration system. I can get a really good filtration system for only about $1000 and put in a lake pump with a pressure tank to filter lake water. We will not be living there, it will just be a family fishing and camping retreat although some day my wife and I may spend the summer there.

So my questions: who has experience with this? What things should I be looking for? What kind of a screening system do I need for the water pickup and how far into the lake does it need to be (depth) etc. Do I need to put in a full septic with drain field or just maybe a tank? The outhouse has a septic with drain field, but it's a little uphill from the living quarters, is it possible to pump the septic uphill somehow?

Lot's to think about and I am looking for input.

I'm not sure what soil substrate you have but one option is to drive a point and run a shallow well pump off of that with a filter cartridge. The water will be better filtered from the ground than directly from the lake.

X2 what Eagleye said. Can you be sure that any well will be uphill and far enough away from the existing drain field..OR a future drain field ?

I know of a couple situations like what you describe ...........with extensive filtration systems. A thousand bucks for a "really good filtration system" seems very low to me....but I am thinking in terms of Alaska prices.

My thinking is to bite the bullet and do it right the first time. It won't get any cheaper in the future if you decide to live there for longer periods

First you can put In a lift pump to your septic system. If you are by a lake your water table might be hi. Put in a well, DO NOT take water out of the lake to drink etc. Most places in Mi. has hi iron. Put in a well and see if you have very hi iron levels. If so then put in a filtering system. If you are going to live there only a few months out of the year have the water tested by the health Dept. it is very cheap to have done. When you system is being used all the time it is unlike you will have any problem but when you are draining the system every year you are opening your system to all kinds of issues. JMO

X2

Itasca County has some "wonky" laws and septic systems and wells are 2 of the worst. I don't believe that you can pull water from the lakes here anymore. They are even cracking down on outhouses now. I believe your well and septic will need to be brought up to code within 2 years of the purchase date or you will get a hefty fine. Spend the money and do it right the first time. Also, welcome to the county of 1,000 taxes!

The newer water softeners will remove up to 4 ppm of iron. 2x... get the septic away from your water source,the septic pumps on the market are very good.

Carefully consider the situation of your specific lot and lake before doing any thing. IF there is any chance that a second and/or third tier of homes/cabins will be built behind(above) your lot away from the lake, be sure you go with a deep well. MANY existing lake homes on developed lakes that are first tier(adjacent to the water) now have other homes setting above them whose septic systems are feeding directly into the ground water which is slowly moving downhill through the soil into the lake but in so doing, is passing under the lake side home and through the water they are using via sand point. Also be careful to consider the future impact of your own septic on your water supply. Nothing you can do about the effect of the existing outhouse but carefully consider the location, distance and type of system you may later build. VERY few local septic folks are versed on groundwater movements.

I pump lake water to our camp for toilets, sinks and shower.
We bring in water to drink and cook with.
28 of 32 camps do this. The other 4 have wells.
My water line is in 2 ft of water, I have a brass screen over the foot valve.
I make sure the water line is suspended off of the bottom.

The current outhouse is sitting on top of the septic tank and the drainfield goes to the north, the building is 200 feet to the south, so I should be good there. 200+ feet seems like a long way to pump but it's cheaper than putting in a new septic I suppose. If I put in a well it will be beside the building and then run a hydrant over to where I may put a couple RVs for my kids to stay in when they visit.

There is one house on a small property (5 acres) behind me and the rest is hundreds of acres of timber company land. Should be good there.

Thanks to all who have posted, this is helpful.

Sounds Nice and Private

Not bad at all. The lake is not surrounded by homes like so many are, there's a lot of wild land in addition to the lakeshore properties. Seems like a good fit for me; I'm looking forward to having it full of kids and grandkids at times during the summer. I have a fishing boat and a pontoon boat that I will leave up there along with a canoe. The fun part is planning and improving it, adding a dock, swimming platform, etc. It's 2 hours from home.

My home has a driven shallow well @ 25 foot, at 17 foot went through 3 foot of clay hard pan water sand under it. Static pressure brings water to top of pipe, no pressure but requires a cap without pump hooked as it will flood pit. Hunting camp a few miles away is the same, just a couple foot deeper and pump with a hand pump. Both test fine. Northern lower Michigan glacier sand and gravel hills.

Are You going to Bear Hunt out of there?

You're right....the Fun part is the planning

Probably. It's only 2 and 3 points to draw in that area versus 5 points or more here.

Draw a tag and come shoot one of the diaper eaters off my place.

Whats a diaper eater 160? LoL

A bear. Those pigs will eat anything. You can see them at the landfill eating dirty diapers. I hate bears. I am glad you guys enjoy hunting them. I have no use for them at all.

I sugar-finish them and they are delicious!

UPDATE:

After doing some research I have made a decision. I can take water out of the lake for home use without a permit as long as I don't use more than 1 million gallons a year (!). I have bought a whole home filtration system for $1200, along with all the bathroom fixtures and a tankless water heater. I'm going to use a pump with pressure tank down by the lake and pump the lakewater up the hill to the cabin and filter it.

The bathroom will be slightly down hill and 250 feet from the septic tank so I will need to pump the septic. When spring comes I will get the septic checked for compliance and find out what it takes to put in the septic pump. If the septic isn't compliant I guess I'll have to put in a new one and it will be closer. The septic has an outhouse sitting on it now, which hasn't been used much in the past 5 years.

So I was really surprised that there are little to no prohibitions on lake water use and it's a lot cheaper than putting in a well and softener system which will have a lot of iron in the water. For the time being we'll be there a few times during the summer so this system will be fine and if someday we decide to live there in the summer we can put in a well at that time if we decide that would be better.

Thanks for all the input this was an educational process.