If we trench around the whole house to put in PVC pipe a bit lower than any newly installed drain in the well, we'd have to dig up a few rows of cobble patio. That's the only area we can think of that has enough slope to drain the water away to. Covers won't work because the water is just filling in via the bottom. It's not rained hard enough lately to see if water is seeping in between the house & metal well. Thought maybe we'd rent an auger or Chipping hammer to hopefully dig down to cleanish gravel and clean the clay/soil out of the top. Thinking if that was done, maybe the water would trickle down. I take back what I said about my knowledge on fixes :). I do know I don't want to make a hole through the house to have an inside drain. Or - I'd "prefer" not to. Only a 1" pipe would fit between the walls which might be ok, but it would be very tricky to do without tearing apart all the drywall down there.

I filled my new pool in Spring in late May 2013, live by Hooks Airport. It took about 24 hrs to fill 15,000 gallons by garden hose. I remembered the sewage rate from my MUD when I lived in Kingwood, so called my MUD to ask for a pool filling exemption - they told me they charge a flat rate for sewage, so no need for a pool filling exemption nor a need for a separate irrigation meter for sprinklers. So - ask you MUD if you need an exemption or if your sewer rate is fixed.

I just rerouted the condensate from one of my two A/C evaporators (the other was too far) and an Aprilaire dehumidifier. PVC pipe painted to match a downspout brings the condensate from the 2nd floor attic to a rain barrel I've set up to catch it. Hose connected to the rain barrel faucet allows me to empty the condensate into the pool--and then hide the hose when I need to. My hope was to have enough to keep the pool topped off with 7.0 pH water (pure water is 7.0; our city water is 8.2; ideal pH for plaster pool is 7.2-7.8). Initially I collected the condensate in a 5 gallon pail for testing. Turns out the water has a pH of 5.8, which I learned is due to carbon dioxide dissolved in the water from the air. That's not a problem. In fact the small amount of 5.8 water will barely raise the pH of the 15,000 gallon pool. Right now, I'm getting only about 8-10 gallons a day, but this is fall, and the AC runs less than summer. I should get 12-15 gallons in the summer. I don't know if that will keep the pool topped off, but it will help with both quantity and pH. My other water tests showed, not surprisingly, -0- chlorine, -0- calcium hardness, -0-total alkalinity, -0- salt, and -0- cyanuric acid. CDC recommends treatment of AC condensate if used for other than watering plants and other applications that don't require potable water, as the AC evaporator can carry in-home viruses and bacteria. Well guess what? A swimming pool has built in water treatment: chlorine. I use a salt water chlorine generator and keep the pool at 4-6ppm chlorine level, which is well above CDC's recommended minimum of 2-3ppm (CDC is only concerned with health issues, while pool owners also want to prevent algae.) Reuse of AC condensate is likely to become more important in the future. Consider in Houston, there are about 2 million "housing units" and 110,000 business in Harris County according to the Census. Just consider how much water is created by AC units and then piped right into the sanitary sewer system every day at 10 gallons per household. 20 million gallons--and that's just Harris County Texas. I know a few people who capture the condensate and use if for gardens (5.8pH is perfect for most flowering plants.) There are 82 million single family homes in America. Do the water math and see how much we're throwing away every day. The cost of routing AC condensate out to a container instead of into the sanitary sewer would be almost zero for new construction. It cost me $150 for the AC guys to do it. I know I won't live long enough to get my money back in savings on my water bill and reduce use of muriatic acid for pool pH. I just wanted to know if it would work. I'm doing a tiny bit to save water.

tilleys26, Jack's magic will work well to keep the iron in solution. I would suggest that you use a filter aid in your sand filter. This will help the filter hold the fine particles that it is unable to catch. Don't worry about the chlorine until you get the water cleared up. Sand filters work fine once the water is clear. DE filters work much more quickly to clear the water. Go to a pool store and ask about a filter aid to add to your sand filter. Be patient and continue to filter 20+ hours a day until it is clear. Water trucks generally have iron tanks. You may have traded one iron source for another. As the water starts to clear you can start raising the alkalinity and calcium hardness. Good luck.