Where do you think water comes from for a town? It comes out of a well. I dill water wells for a living and we drill acreage wells the exact same as a town well. If the well is drilled properly you'll have absolutely no problems with it. After you have a well drilled take a jar of water from the well into a water softener salesman and they'll hook you up with the correct softener. If your area tests high for arsenic it can easily be avoided/solved by setting the casing deeper.

He thinks that town water is tested and treated more than a well would be....I grew up with well water so it doesn't bother me, but he's a city boy!

Its an interesting subject that is highly variable. In our region, much of the city water supply starts as surface water with somewhat protected watersheds. Many of these bodies of water are cleaner than some area's well water. After the municipality starts adding chemicals things get tougher to compare.

I would say most wells have great water being from the ground, a very effective filter in most cases. Some areas however, dare I say the frack word, are becoming drastically worse with our new natural gas extraction methods. At least with city water and slightly tainted well water, we can use filtering methods at point of use to treat it. Some of the problems and costs coming at the sake of cheaper fossil fuels are not so easy to fix.

I think lolaurens advice is the way to go. Once you have it tested and know what you are working with it makes things much easier.

I grew up in the city myself with no experience with wells. But since marrying and settling down we have had nothing but a well. Initially I wasn't sure what that would mean but besides possibly needing a softener and not being able to use a disposal it's no sweat. We have since moved and the soil here just 4 miles away is more sandy and the water is fantastic (last place wasn't bad but this is much better). No softener. The water is a touch hard but no rust or sulfer smells.

edit: no softener but we do have a water osmosis system for drinking anyhow - just out of the fridge spigot not any other faucet.

I think when the children were younger I could have used flouride tabs but I just never did. No ill effects from that in our case.

We're on well water. I think it tastes better than the water in the town next to us. We generally drink it out of the fridge door, which means it's filtered, but our tap water is fine, too.

We had our water tested by the county health dept. when we first moved in. We don't have a softener. That means we get water spots on dishes and I have to do things like run a dishwater cleaner once a month, but otherwise we don't need one.

Based on our peditrician's recommendation, I give the kids flouride pills. They love them because they're sweet. You have to get a prescription for them.

Good luck!

we've had several wells (different homes) over the years water has ranged from very good to hardly drinkable unfortunately the water in our forever home is the worst we've ever had (tastewise) all the wells provided a very healthy water source according to county officials
the water here has a strong petroleum taste and smell - without various water filters and has more salinity than any other
i will say it has been fairly expensive (around 8000 not counting the well itself) to get this water to it's present good tasting state.......
this is a subdivision problem, not just "our house"
i'm not saying this to discourage you --because we're probably running 9 out of 10 well needing almost no treatment

Our current house has well water. It was required to be tested during the build process for basic bacterial contamination. Our state agency has a program to test well water for many different things (fees depend on what you want to have tested) so you never have to wonder what is in your well water. As others have said, it depends on where you are, but here the well water tastes fantastic. As far as watering your lawn... in our area, if you have a sprinkler system some well pump providers will not warranty the pump if it is used for watering the lawn because it's so hard on the pump (some people have a separate well for landscaping purposes). If you love the lot and can build your dream home, I hope having a well does not stop you! Good luck.

We are currently on a well and the water tastes great. We did have the water tested and had a filter installed (our water has higher amounts of iron and sulphur). We also use the well water for irrigation but it is not filtered so it smells a little funny. Our new home will also have a well and we are thrilled. Water hook ups in our area are about the same price as a well ($22,000) and the monthly water costs are high ($500 in the summer). I love watering my lawn or letting my kids run the hose in the summer and not worrying about my water bill.