What Sort of Water Tanks Do you have?

[aussie ken]

Down under we are a pretty dry country.......... most older rural properties have house hold water from roof rain water feeding into large Galvanised Iron water tanks adjoining the house. These are typically 5,000 Gallons or more in capacity. And a single house may have 2 or more of these tanks in series for domestic consumption. Live stock will drink from dams or water bores.............newer rural homes usually have a single inground concrete tank of up 40,000 Gallons capacity and the house built over the top of it...........poly tanks of up 5,000 Gallon capacity are also now used. Im curious as to what the situation is in rural parts of the US? How do you store water?

 

[Mary Tiernan]

I live in Michigan so it might different in other parts (we do have about 1/3 of the world's fresh water here).

Water is not really stored for rural homes. We have wells, ranging in depth from 25' to more than 200'. Water is supplied via underground water table. We then have a small well tank which stores a couple hundred gallons for ease of consumption, when it gets to a low level, the well pump kicks in and reloads with water.

I would like to store the rain water and use it to water the lawn. I have seen where some parts of the country do that in large containers, but that was in an area with water shortages and only some folks were starting to go this route.

 

[Wendy]

Sadly catching and storing rainwater is not popular in Florida.

Instead we tap the aquifer with wells or drain the rivers only to waste the water on acres of non-native drought-susceptible St. Augustine lawns.

I'd love to see a law passed that makes rain water cisterns or grey water the only allowable sources for irrigation.

 

[c w d]

Store rain water? In the US? Are you joking? Do you know how much water it takes to water our lawns? A lot. Storing and using rain water, as logical as that sounds, would never work. First, it makes too much sense. Second, it's smarter than draining our natural resources. Third, it's renewable. :Eyecrazy:

 

[Lawrence R.]

Sadly catching and storing rainwater is not popular in Florida.

Instead we tap the aquifer with wells or drain the rivers only to waste the water on acres of non-native drought-susceptible St. Augustine lawns.

I'd love to see a law passed that makes rain water cisterns or grey water the only allowable sources for irrigation.

There should be a law that says stop making up ridiculous laws.

Does anyone REALLY think that we are one more law away from solving anything in this country. Please.

We need to dump some tea in a harbor, and a few THOUSAND laws with it.

 

[Caterina Platt]

There should be a law that says stop making up ridiculous laws.

Does anyone REALLY think that we are one more law away from solving anything in this country. Please.

We need to dump some tea in a harbor, and a few THOUSAND laws with it.

Amen!!

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

These are typical. Occasionally you see concrete in ground. I have seen a 25000 gallon concrete tank with the well house built over the tank. I've never seen a metal tank used for residential purposes here. This is on a poultry farm. Poultry farms are generally required to have a minimum amount of backup water supply even if on a municipal system. Some are concrete tanks

 

[Tejus]

In Tx there are a few household rainwater collection systems. There are many variations, but the basic design is similar to yours (i.e. roof collection system, tank (above or below ground), purification system, pump, etc). A simple system costs approx $5k. Since the rain is unreliable, the systems typically require a backup water source.

Some owners truck water in when their tanks are low. The cost for approx 2k gal of water is $200. This will last a family of 4 approx 1 mo. This is expensive.

There are many tanks (a natural drainage area which has been damn'ed up to hold water) for livestock. The shallow tanks often go dry during a drought.

The most common solution is to drill a well, typically 150-600' deep. The cost is $5-15k. You need to meet min lot size, offset requirements (from other wells, septic systems, lot boundary, etc) to drill a well. Many of the older, shallow wells are going dry as an area is developed. The people have to drill new wells or switch to another water source.

Communities in the country often have a single private shared well, similar to a mini public water system.

I have a well since there is no other water source available. There is a lot of water in my water table, but the water quality is poor and I have to filter the water to make it drinkable. I think the water is harming some of my garden plants. There is a lake across the street, I'm working on a system to use lake water for my garden. I've seen many wells with drinkable water right out of the ground, I wish mine was similar.

buene suerte.

 

[Mike Boyd]

Water use, drilling of wells, storing water, etc, in my county is controlled by a quasi public company called the Sonoma Water Agency. You must get a permit from them to drill a well, build a dam, divert from a creek, etc. They investigate to make sure your plan does not impact other users. Most storage tanks I see are galvanized steel on older properties, fiberglass on newer ones. Rainwater is collected in ponds and only used for animals and irrigation.

When I was a kid growing up in Southern California, my mother and sister collected rain water in an old wine barrel and used it for washing their hair. No water shortage then, they claimed it was pure and left no residue...made their hair softer.

 

[G-man]

This is what we use around these parts

I think this is how most people in N.W. Ohio & S.E. Michigan get their water. Some, as Mary stated, use wells or ponds for local water. I have noted that some areas in Monroe County use 5,000+ gallon plastic cisterns to store water that is hauled in once or twice a month. This is not typical, however.