Living in some rural areas-some environ. challenges

[Flybye]

Although Idaho is completely rural, we do have people who live in the city and people who live in the country.
Environmentally, I would say that there are some differences, but not many. People do dump on their own rural land. There have been instances where canals and rivers have been used to dump chemicals.
Generally, the people who have not learned to play nice with others end up moving to the country. They are the people who lived in town and got in trouble for barking dogs, kids that party late into the night, and having four or five dead cars hanging around on their front lawn. The pressure from neighbors to take care of their mess chases them to the country.
There is usually enough acreage between neighbors that they can live life their own way in the country without bothering others.
There are other disadvantages too, like slower fire and ambulance services, longer delays getting snow plowed from drifted in roads, poorer schools, and a fifteen mile drive for services (groceries, dinner out, etc). Generally speaking, cable television is not a choice and neither is natural gas.
I loved the solidarity of living in the countryside but I would not consider moving back. The inconveniences were not worth it. The money in gas for traveling was not good for the environment or my pocketbook.
How in the world did the man in the article procure sewage?? Ick.

[Irulan]

Lest us not forget those who move to rural areas for other reasons, the so called quiet, views and so on. I think it's a little broad to say problem people move to the rural areas ( though probably true to some degree). Around here, it's more people who want a big fancy house with a view. They are then surprised when they don't have the same services as a city dweller, and a spate of additional problems too.

Our county published a booklet for rural transplants about ten years about when the mini ranch phenomena was booming. They were tired of people complaining about snow plowing, lack of cable/internet, school bus service,flies from animals, the guy down the road harvesting wheat at 3 AM with floodlight...( all the things mentioned above and more) I find it amusing that they actually had to educate people about some of these points, but people being people....

Here's a sampling from the document:
(full doc here, it's a humorous read http://www.spokanecounty.org/data/en...eofthewest.pdf)

Emergency response times for sheriff, fire suppression, medical care, etc., cannot be guaranteed. Under some extreme conditions, you may find that emergency response is extremely slow and expensive. . . .

School buses travel only on maintained county roads designated as school bus routes by the school district. If you live on a private road, you may need to drive your children to the nearest county road or bus stop so they can get to school.

The county's many private access roads are often in bad shape, the pamphlet says. And guess what? They're your problem:

Natural disasters, especially floods, can destroy roads. . . . Residents served by private roads and/or bridges have had large bills for repairs and/or reconstruction after floods.

Unpaved roads generate dust. Spokane County does not treat roads to suppress dust. If you reside near an unpaved road, you may want to have the road treated for dust suppression by one of the contractors authorized to do road oiling by the County.

If your road is unpaved, it is highly unlikely that Spokane County will pave it without financing by the adjoining property owners through a Road Improvement District.

Electric service may not be readily available in every area of Spokane County. It is important to determine the proximity of electrical power, as it can be very expensive to extend power lines to remote areas. . . .

Power outages can occur in outlying areas with more frequency than in more developed areas, particularly if power lines are difficult to access. A loss of electric power can interrupt your supply of water from a well. Interruptions in power may cause you to lose the food in your freezer or refrigerator. . . . If you live in the country it is important to be able to survive a week or longer in severe cold with no utilities.

Trash removal is available everywhere in Spokane County, but some removal can be more expensive in rural areas than in metropolitan areas. In some cases, your trash dumpster may be several miles from your home. Your only option may be to haul your trash to the disposal site yourself.

[Irulan]

Although Idaho is completely rural, we do have people who live in the city and people who live in the country.
Environmentally, I would say that there are some differences, but not many. People do dump on their own rural land. There have been instances where canals and rivers have been used to dump chemicals.
Generally, the people who have not learned to play nice with others end up moving to the country. They are the people who lived in town and got in trouble for barking dogs, kids that party late into the night, and having four or five dead cars hanging around on their front lawn. The pressure from neighbors to take care of their mess chases them to the country.
There is usually enough acreage between neighbors that they can live life their own way in the country without bothering others.
There are other disadvantages too, like slower fire and ambulance services, longer delays getting snow plowed from drifted in roads, poorer schools, and a fifteen mile drive for services (groceries, dinner out, etc). Generally speaking, cable television is not a choice and neither is natural gas.
I loved the solidarity of living in the countryside but I would not consider moving back. The inconveniences were not worth it. The money in gas for traveling was not good for the environment or my pocketbook.
How in the world did the man in the article procure sewage?? Ick.

This is my argument exactly whenever DH brings up the idea. I LIKE being 1.5 miles miles from everything.

DH is an environmental consultant and I wanted to comment on a couple of other things.

Farmers and municipalities routinely use sewage sludge and water treatment byproducts for fertilizing and watering. It happens all over the country and if it's done properly, is very safe. It is a part of the sewage treatment process. I'm not sure about odors through.

Dumping.... yes it's really unfortunate that some people created their own dumps but this is illegal. If you know of illegal dumping you can report it and maybe it will get cleaned up. We've seen some horrible, horrible dump sites where everything imaginable and then some was dumped over a cliff or into a gully. Yuck.