There are a number of great camps on the shores of Lake Placid without road access that pump their water, including what they drink, from the lake.
The lake gets deep very quickly and is clean; our pump was about 40 feet deep. We had the kids snorkel down to check the mechanism and the shore owners’ association tested the water every spring for run-off and potability.
We also shared a long fire hose and submersible pump with our nearest neighbor that we could use in case of fire.
The camps were build in the 1920’s out of wood and had a tendency to blaze up. When we opened camp for the summer we always had a fire drill. Run to the boat house, plug in and drop the pump into the water, and gallop several hundred feet dragging canvas fire house. Luckily we never had to put it to the test. The kids thought it was hilarious.
But the only other option was to call the town offices and wait for the fireboat to chug out to us…a twenty-minute prospect on a good day.