# Help Cistern water



## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

Ok my BOL has a 3000 gallon cistern, concrete , we half emptied it and refilled, what is the best organic way to keep water drinkable. I have a filtering system and water tester now.
Also after a SHTF i will be relying on rain water redirected from eaves to fill tank so untraeted water going in besides cheese cloth.
All help greatly appreciated 
Thanks RR


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

Why isn't it drinkable? The water should be just fine as long as you are keeping debris out of it.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

What kind of roof do you have?


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Boil it!

If yer fillin it offin yer roof yer dealin with bird droppins, critters that have access ta the roof an such.


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## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

We have summer township water that is drinkable and fill with the township water in the fall, but I am thinking in a SHTF no summer water , My roof is shigles, I was thinking rain barrels off of the down spots then top fill into the cistern if needed. Cistern water is good to drink now had it tested when we bought the BOL.
Thanks RR


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## -JohnD- (Sep 16, 2012)

Could you set-up a supply filter system with a "dirty" hold tank that feeds into the cistern?


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

My house had a cistern. It was removed. I plan to have it re-installed. The system here came straight off the metal roof and as far as I can tell, there was no filter. My neighbor has the same system and she does not have a filter just a screen to keep debris out. I guess old houses didn't have them.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I lived with roof catchment for decades. I have designed and installed cisterns and roof catchment systems. We didn't worry about bird droppings. No birds were hanging around our roof playing golf. We would use a screen to filter out the leaves. Every few years we would run the cistern dry and clean out the dust (mud) from the bottom. About once a year we would add a little bleach to the tank. I found it best to do this when nobody would be home for a few days because after the clean water bleach really stinks. After a few days the bleach tends to dissipate. 

If you have asphalt shingles you are fine. If you have cedar shingles you should not use these to catch water for a couple of years as the oil in the wood can poison you. I know people that can not burn cedar in their wood stove because they react to the ash that finds its way into the cistern. I know of no problem with other woods.


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## machinist (Jul 4, 2012)

We don't have a filter on our cistern, as such. It is 6,700 gallons and is divided in half with a "filter wall" of cinder blocks. Water goes in one half, and has to soak through the cinder blocks to get to the output side. 

A few years ago we rehabbed this old cistern. We scrubbed it out, pressure washed multiple times with clear water, vacuumed it dry. Then, we tuck pointed cracks with hydraulic cement and coated the entire inside with a Quikrete product called "Quikwall", 1/8" thick. which I think is hyraulic cement reinforced with glass fibers = very strong. We used a liquid acrylic water proofing additive in the mix, per directions. ZERO leakage problems. 

We have a new white painted steel roof and new aluminum gutters with coarse screens on the outlets. We cut the only tree of any size nearby and have almost no residue in the inlet side after the first 2 years use. We filled the cistern with 1/3 city water, to help cure the new coating, then let it fill to the top with rainwater and added a gallon of Chlorox. We drained out half of that and let it refill with rainwater to reduce the chlorine taste. We have been using straight rain water since then, with no further treatment and no problems.

When we sometimes get an overflow of excess water. The pair of 2" pipe overflow outlets are screened against insects, and once in a while upon removing the screens, we get a little leaf debris from them. I open the cleanout access cover each summer, but have not found a need to clean yet after 3 summers use. Nothing on the bottom at all--still a nice light gray color.

The water tastes great. Our county water utility has had issues with purity upon State testing, and THEIR water makes suds in a glass from the faucet. Tastes like it came out a horse track in the barnyard, too. I'm happy with our water.


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## pawpaw (Dec 21, 2011)

Good Gawd!

Is there NO skill-set missing from this website? Kudos, members! I just hope I 
never have to get a consult on an anyeurism (?) or some other future malady.
:congrat:


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

Nothing wrong with stored rainwater in a cistern, try to filter it before it goes in, chlorinate it occassionly if you wish, but it's all around good stuff. Soft rainwater good to wash your clothes and hair and it doesn't build up calcium or minerals in your HW tank or anything else. 

During the drought of 88 our dug well went dry. I was faced with the dilemma, do I drill a deep well or build a cistern? 

I followed a geologist's advice and questioned all my neighbors who had deep wells and cisterns. 

Deep wells around in this locale have strong sulfur water. 

The two main complaints I got about cisterns were they wished they had built them bigger to hold more water, and, the quake of 1980 had cracked many cisterns in the area.

So, I built a large (11,000 gal) capacity cistern with earthquake resistant steel re-enforced concrete walls (actually I built it like a bank vault). 

Piped all the roof water to a filter made from a 33 gal HD galvanized garbage can filled with, well, filter gravel. The system works like a charm, and we basically live like 'city people'. 

Heheh, since 'the girls' grew up and moved out water usage went waaaaay down, I actually am able to divert the warm summer rains and get by with storing only the cold winter rainwater.


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## RoadRash (Sep 29, 2010)

Thanks I will add a rain barrell and fill with sand and gravel to pre screen any water going into the cistern as a back up to township water being shut off.


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

Sand may be too fine of a filtering medium and result in overflow during hard rains. My filter is layered, big rocks on the bottom, then a layer of smaller rocks, then a layer of gravel (like #57), then a screen with a 3-4" layer of aquarium filter gravel. When needed I lift the screen w/ gravel out and wash it. The filter works very effectively.


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## Wellrounded (Sep 25, 2011)

We don't filter ours, drink it straight out of the tank, never treat it and might clean out the tank every 20 years or so. That's just how it's done down here in Australia. We have about 5500gl of storage and the house minus the toilet runs on this, our rainfall is low with almost none over summer and autumn. We have well water for the garden and stock water.


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

Wellrounded said:


> We don't filter ours, drink it straight out of the tank, never treat it and might clean out the tank every 20 years or so. That's just how it's done down here in Australia.


It was common with the old timers in KY to do the same; no filtering, no treatment. They would clean the cistern when needed though, which can be a pain in the arse since most cisterns are not equipped with gravity drains, thus the wisdom of prefiltering the rainwater. ALSO, they used diverter valves that would allow the roof to be washed off some before catching the water.

Here in KY, which I suspect is much more lush than where you're located, the prefiltering prevents bookoo insects from decomposing in your drinking water. This becomes very obvious whenever the filter is cleaned.

I don't chlorinate anymore, it simply isn't neccessary in my situation.



> We have about 5500gl of storage and the house minus the toilet runs on this, our rainfall is low with almost none over summer and autumn. We have well water for the garden and stock water.


Many Americans take water for granted and are very wasteful with it. When one has to be conservative, one learns just how little they can get by with.

[edit to add]I would think nowadays that one of those swimming pool sweepers/vacuumers would do a good job at cleaning a cistern bottom, wouldn't it?


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## OldCootHillbilly (Jul 9, 2010)

Pool sweeper will only work ifin yer runnin a pool set up. I E: sand filter, pool pump, backwash capability an such.

Plus ya would have ta do it weekly er even more cause they don't like suckin up huge amounts a dirt without lots a backwashin an that wastes water.


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Pool sweeper will only work ifin yer runnin a pool set up. I E: sand filter, pool pump, backwash capability an such.
> 
> Plus ya would have ta do it weekly er even more cause they don't like suckin up huge amounts a dirt without lots a backwashin an that wastes water.


Ok, thanks, that shows how little I know about 'pool maintenance'. It makes sense though.

Years ago we visited some friends in Phoenix that had a pool and I observed the automatic pool sweeper in their swimming pool and wondered then if it could be used to clean cistern bottoms. I guess not.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

The process of cleaning always emptied our cistern. Cleaning was performed when the tank was almost empty any way or we were expecting rain. Most often we would order a truck load of water. This water came from the city water system and as such was already chlorinated. After cleaning a tank is a good time to chlorinate it. Also expect increased turbidity for a couple days.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I've seen some cisterns that contained varied amounts of living and once living organic things. Some of what I have seen has turned me off to cisterns and I would not want one except as a very last resort. If you have one and it works good for you thats great and I'm happy for you. It is just something I do not want.


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## kejmack (May 17, 2011)

The New Pioneer Magazine has a comprehensive article on cisterns. I saw it on the newsstand today.


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

OldCootHillbilly said:


> Boil it!
> 
> If yer fillin it offin yer roof yer dealin with bird droppins, critters that have access ta the roof an such.


I wonder if one of these would take care of that problem?










"Prowler Owl

Don't be fooled by imitations that just "sit" there - without movement they're useless!

Scare pest birds away "naturally" "


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

*Maybe the ecosystem of a cistern is just what the doctor ordered*

Concerning 'getting turned off by all those germs', consider this, the human microbiome:

.....*The average person's body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only maybe one in 10 is human*."

Excerpts from 'Microbes may play crucial role in human health, researchers discovering'. Aside from my own experience, this is why I am convinced of the benefits derived from the probiotics of fermented foods:

"...The *human cells *that form our skin, eyes, ears, brain and every other part of our bodies *are far outnumbered by those from microbes *- primarily bacteria but also viruses, fungi and a panoply of other microorganisms....."

"....Researchers are amassing a growing body of evidence indicating that *microbial ecosystems play crucial roles in keeping us healthy*."

"Moreover, scientists are becoming more convinced that *modern trends *- diet, antibiotics, *obsession with cleanliness*, Caesarean deliveries - *are disrupting this delicate balance*, contributing to some of the most perplexing ailments, including asthma, allergies, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, cancer and perhaps even autism."

".......*Everywhere we look, microbes seem to be involved*.""

"Some equate these microbial inhabitants to *a newly recognized organ. Acquired beginning at birth*, this mass of fellow travelers may help steer normal development, molding immune systems and calibrating fundamental metabolic functions such as energy storage and consumption. There are even clues that they may help shape brain development, influencing behavior. "*The 'human supraorganism' *is one term coined to describe the human host and all the attendant microorganisms,"....."

""We have to be very careful in how we state what we know at the present time versus what we think might be true at this point,"....... "But it's probably fair to say that *our indigenous communities are more diverse, more complex and more intimately and intricately involved in our biology than we thought*.""

""We feed them and house them, and they perform certain metabolic functions for us that we have sort of contracted out.........*The homeboys protect their turf from invaders*.""

""We just don't pick up willy-nilly any microbe in the soil or air we encounter.......*people generally seem to have one of three basic combinations that may be as fundamentally important as, say, blood type*."

""We're using microbes as markers for the onset of various diseases or progression of diseases....*We think we're going to have a huge impact on health*.""

"One intriguing finding is that babies born through Caesarean section apparently miss out on acquiring their mothers' *microbiota......"*The birth canal is very heavily colonized by bacteria,.....We think that is not by chance*.""

""Gut bacteria have figured out a way to *network with our immune system *so it doesn't attack them,"...apparently sends signals that dampen the "inflammatory response," a crucial defense also thought to play a role in *a variety of diseases*......some people may be prone to these diseases is that they are missing certain microbes. One anti-inflammatory compound produced by a bacterium appears to cure the equivalent of colitis and multiple sclerosis in mice, both of which are caused by *misfiring immune systems*...."

"Role in *obesity*?.......gut dwellers secrete messengers to cells lining the digestive tract to *modulate key hormones*, such as leptin and ghrelin, which are players in *regulating metabolism*, hunger and a sense of fullness.....Pregnant women often take *antibiotics*, and young children can get several rounds to fight ear and other infections, which can* kill off these companions*..... *Farmers commonly add antibiotics to animal feed to fatten their animals faster*. ...."We may have *a generation of children growing up without the proper bacteria to regulate their leptin and ghrelin*,".....*Obese people appear to have a distinctive mix of digestive bacteria that make them prone to weight gain*. Thin mice get fatter when their microbiota is replaced with the microbes of obese animals."

""*Our ancient microbiome is losing the equilibrium it used to have with the host *- us - and that has profound physiological consequences,"...."

".... bacteria in the gut appear to influence brain chemistry, and corresponding behaviors such as anxiety, stress and depression, via the vagus nerve.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

The only thing I found with most asphalt shingles is that most are now manufacture with chopped fiberglass and as they age the shingles release fine broken particle that could be suspended in the rain water stored. If I were to store water from that type of roof I think just a simple milk filter would keep that from getting into water storage as well as the mineral surfacing that comes loose. I switched to a metal roof and have been considering collecting the night condensation because even on the hottest days there is a lot of water coming out of the down spouts. As to cisterns I built a 1100 gallon concrete tank with a poured top and a manhole access cover that weighs about 300 pounds. I move it off with leverage but the average guy would have a hard time even with the help of another person. In the over twenty years we've used it I've only cleaned it out twice and the last time was because a root had broken an inlet pipe and grown a large root ball inside. It gets some silting from the spring source but since the spring source is covered it doesn't get animal or insect contamination. Funny thing happened many years ago when we were having heavy rains some fresh water shrimp showed up in a drinking glass, kind of made me wonder if there wasn't a cavern somewhere in the mountain behind us that had shrimp in it's pools.


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

About 30 yrs ago I gathered some watercress at a very large spring in Fayette county; while cleaning, 'fairy shrimp' were discovered among some of the roots of the watercress, didn't know what they were then but did some research and sure enough literally *they are a freshwater shrimp that lives in only clean pure water*. (There also were some tiny black salamanders and a waterbug I'd never seen before, but it was the shrimp that really caught our interest)


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## kyredneck (Aug 12, 2012)

kyredneck said:


> Sand may be too fine of a filtering medium and result in overflow during hard rains. My filter is layered, big rocks on the bottom, then a layer of smaller rocks, then a layer of gravel (like #57), then a screen with a 3-4" layer of aquarium filter gravel. When needed I lift the screen w/ gravel out and wash it. The filter works very effectively.


It's raining this morning and I thought to get a pic of the filter 'in action'. Note the diverter fitting on the inlet side of the filter.

Also, the shelter in the background of my avatar photo is built upon the cistern,


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

kyredneck said:


> About 30 yrs ago I gathered some watercress at a very large spring in Fayette county; while cleaning, 'fairy shrimp' were discovered among some of the roots of the watercress, didn't know what they were then but did some research and sure enough literally *they are a freshwater shrimp that lives in only clean pure water*. (There also were some tiny black salamanders and a waterbug I'd never seen before, but it was the shrimp that really caught our interest)


Thanks for doing the research and passing this on. I kind of figured our water was pretty clean, I didn't mind shrimp being in the water once and a great while so we just joke about it as being a little extra protein. A couple of years ago we were at a garden show at a local fairground and there was a guy there that did a water test for nitrates, we always take our spring water with us when driving anywhere so we had it tested and it had no nitrates in it.


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