I overheard someone talking about a cistern being be an alternative to digging a well. Does anyone have a cistern? Is there anything anyone can tell me about them?
I overheard someone talking about a cistern being be an alternative to digging a well. Does anyone have a cistern? Is there anything anyone can tell me about them?
I haven't personally known anyone using a cistern since I was a teenager and one of our neighbors had one. It was very close to the house and caught the rain water from the roof. Are you thinking of using one for potable water? Or just for irrigation? You need filters of some kind; first one that can catch leaves and such, then something for smaller stuff; maybe a sand filter, and finally a charcoal filter for potable water. But you can find a lot of information on Google.
A cistern nothing more than a container to hold water. By that definition i have two of them. Except that I fill mine from a well rather than catch rain.
Cisterns were quite common all over Texas from the 1920 up to 1950's. I have drank a lot of water out of them only because I had no other choice.
By and large cisterns catch rain water off of the roof. This means when it first rains all of the dirt, bird poop and everything else washes down into the cistern. They almost always have insects in them mosquito larvae etc. If not sealed and light tight they will grow algae.
There a lot of them here in Arizona and New Mexico but the current buzz word is "water catchment system". They are primarily used for irrigation and not for drinking.
You got to be some sort of die hard to use one over a well if it is for human consumption.
It sounds like a cistern would be okay to use to water my garden, but I'm going to need a well for water to drink and use in the house. "Water containment systems" just sound like they are too unhealthy to me.
I used to work in a hardware warehouse, and I saw some there that are also called a "Chicago rain barrel". There's an attachment on the bottom of the barrel where you can attach a soaker hose for irrigation. Pretty nice actually.
yes and the cistern can also be use as an effective septic system alternative. the piping from the house has to laid to allow for gravity flow into the cistern, otherwise you will need a small (1/2 hp) pump to push the waste upwards. this can still be used
to irrigate gardens and even water livestock.
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