The building codes I am running into require me to have a well dug before anything.
Now we are getting down to it...that is not IBC. That is a local ordinance, and the two are very different. You are correct, some are strictly bureaucratic hurdles, but many, like have a well on the property could very well have direct correlation to either fire control issues, and/or other water access issues. Sometimes it is a control method to retard development of an area by not allowing folks to simply live on the land without build. Some of these reasons are justified, some are not.
How did our ancestors survive ?
I think you are looking at history with a bit of a slant John, and not accurately in some ways. Our species survived, you have that part correct, and too many are surviving today that probably shouldn't, but that is another issue about gene pool collapse in apex species. The Great Creator, Nature, whatever you want to call her, she has a plan, and it is not always a pretty one, or to our benefit. So NO our ancestors absolutely did not survive most of the time, not by a long shot. They died by the tens of thousand and millions, and the likelihood of survival when my elders that taught me were born (1869-1898) was maybe 28 to 30 years of age if you were really lucky and almost everyone new death as a very close and intimate shadow that was always near.
I don't disagree with you that the modernity of our current society we live in is broken, and that many of the bureaucracies all over this planet are taking liberties with our individual choices. Assisted suicide for the terminally ill or just the simple choice of choosing when we release these mortal coils to try it all over again is an individual right that still is trying to be control by the masses, just as a woman's right to do with her body what she will is now in jeopardy from the right wingers that would make as many decisions for the masses as long as it fit their personal agendas, and many other civil burdens that are not anyone's concern but the individual. However, that is not to say you and I can change some (all) of it in time. We can, in time, secure those same freedoms you mentioned you grandfather having, but hopefully without as much risk of a short life that he and or forbears faced.
Regards,
jay
If you want some methods that could very well get you around that "well issue," send me a private email, or give me a call. I would be glad to help you out, and keep fighting the good fight for you personal rights.