Cistern

[Rick]

We are considering a cistern for non-drinking purposes. Can a cistern be above ground? Is there a way to keep the water "fresh" without chlorine? Any advice?
Thanks.

Ann

[The Paw]

Depends, depends, depends.

Where you are, above ground cistern should run no risk of freezing. I would think you would want a cover on it though. Also, the sides should be opaque to discourage algae.

I think it will stay fresh if you use it frequently. If you can arrange to have the downspout from your roof directed into it, then fresh water is added whenever it rains, and it also stirs the water up a bit.

If you can't get your rainwater in there easily, and you are trucking water, then a smaller cistern will be refilled more frequently, keeping it fresher.

We have a 5,000 gallon cistern, and when the snow flies in mid November, we can stretch that to last into February before refilling. I haven't noticed that the water gets particularly stale in 3 months.

[Rick]

Thanks Paw

This is Rick- Ann thanks you for your answer!

We are thinking about a 325 gallon tank. We figured on keeping it covered, and it will get all of the rain water we can catch. We have had good luck with our pair of 55 gallon rain barrels, and have another 325 or so of short term storage availabe.

[greg273]

According to 'The Ferrocement Tank Book', tests show that water properly stored actually gets CLEANER the longer it sits. Apparently, once the bacteria run out of food, they die off, and lack of light keeps other beasties (such as algae) from getting any nutrients.
Consider a roof-washing system, one that drains off the first flush of rainwater, then diverts the rest to the holding tank.

[Michael Kawalek]

Here in the Sierra, everyone uses above ground storage tanks, mine are 5000 gallons each. When the mass of water is that great, it doesn't freeze in the winter time, even though it drops to about 10F here. The water lines though will need frost protection, and it's best to bury them below the frost line. As long as sunlight and mosquitoes can't get in, the water quality will stay high without treatment. For the line that goes from the roof to the tank that's above ground I would wrap pipe insulation around thickly. You should also put an one-way valve just before the tank to prevent a cracked pipe from draining all your stored water.
Michael

[highlands]

Our spring only gives about a gallon a minute, sometimes less. We use that for the house first and then excess of the cistern overflows to an animal tank and then to the ponds.

We've been building small ponds which we use for storage. This allows for a lot more storage than I could do with a cistern. Each pond is up to about 30,000 gallons - not big ponds. In fact I keep them purposefully small so that I don't have to deal with regulations.

The ponds also pickup surface runoff from the forest during rains. We control everything uphill of us so I know chemicals aren't getting dumped there. This provides livestock water during the times when things get really dry like now.

As an added benefit the ponds are good for swimming and skating.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[anniew]

Could the OP put the cistern in the basement. My grandparents had one made in a corner with the two remaining walls of cinderblocks. It went up to about two feet of the ceiling...quite dark so sunlight didn't produce algae. It was used for watering the garden, but also for the toilets and other non-food/drinking purposes once plumbing was installed.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by anniew

Could the OP put the cistern in the basement. My grandparents had one made in a corner with the two remaining walls of cinderblocks. It went up to about two feet of the ceiling...quite dark so sunlight didn't produce algae. It was used for watering the garden, but also for the toilets and other non-food/drinking purposes once plumbing was installed.

Thank you all for your comments.

Anniew- we have no basement!

Walter- If we were to construct a pond 300 feet uphill from our home, is there any greater danger of flooding then there would be with hilly ground there?

[highlands]

The danger of flooding is something you'll have to evaluate with your terrain. Build good strong dams, overflows and spillways. In my case the flooding would go out over our fields and not be a danger. I looked at that carefully before building each pond. This is another reason for building smaller ponds - they hold less water and are less likely to do damage. Personally I'm more comfortable building a bunch of small ponds than one huge one.

If you have several smaller ponds rather than one big one you can stock them with different incompatible fish species, or even shrimp as someone else is writing about on a different thread.

There is another reason not to build a single huge pond - if a body of water gets large enough the state takes it away from you and donates it to the public. You get no compensation but you are allowed to continue paying the taxes, at a higher rate - how nice.

There are quite a few good books on pond building, two by a gentleman in Vermont. Look on Amazon and search for the word pond in the title.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

[Horse Fork Farm]

HI,
I'm in WV and we have a cistern that is probably in the neighborhood of 75 yrs old. Made of limestone block, sitting underground with a concrete cover over it. Its pretty high on the hill and gravity feeds to the house where it is used for everything but drinking. It's drinkable but I know that the occasional salamander gets in there...YUCK!! (I do cook with it though!) Its Spring fed and had water all summer- probably because we hooked the washing machine to the well (which smells like sulphur) Kathy

Oh.... the water stays fresh and cold even in drought. I like that its underground.

[agmantoo]

I could have bought a new but non complying 1500 gallon concrete septic tank for $275 just last week. I am in the process of installing a water system for my cattle and was considering how to get volume of water at a distant cattle waterer. Septic tanks make good cistern IMO. I installed a gravity water system for an elderly woman a few years ago and used a septic tank to store spring water. I put a pump in the tank to obtain pressure for the hot water heater and to feed the toilet storage tank.