Maintenance Issues at home

During the past couple of months we've had to deal with (1) a water shortage and (2) deck rot. We experienced  drought during much of the summer and early fall which caused the water level in our spring to drop to a very low level. We had to haul in water for over a month -- all of September, plus -- but heavy rain in early October filled it again. Meanwhile three chipmunks managed to get in the spring and drown, and had to be pulled out. So we're not drinking from it yet, but have plenty for washing, etc. At the same time we have been aware of some soft spots in our deck. Our friend Tom Goldschmid helped us take down the metal roofing under the deck so we could get a good look at the joists. Fortunately they are basically solid! Just two spots that for some reason have rot just on the top of the joist. We can "sister" those two joists and solve the problem. Meanwhile I did a power wash of the entire deck, above and from underneath, and next week will treat everything with wood preservative. So I'm hoping to extend the life of the deck. When the deck was rebuilt ten or so years ago, I did not use pressure-treated joists because at that time, they contained arsenic and I wanted to avoid using that kind of toxic chemical. I understand that pressure-treated wood today may be more "green."