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fitzpatt
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# Posted: 3 Sep 2019 10:54
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Hi all, I am in the process of working out our water source situation and plan to install a solution sometime next year. I am currently looking at either a drilled well ($$$) or a rain fed cistern. I was wondering if anyone has made a similar choice and the pros and cons of each. I understand that a drilled well will be costly, while a cistern may not be as dependable given the rainfall variability (could always have it delivered). Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!
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ICC
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# Posted: 3 Sep 2019 19:28
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I have rain collection and storage, in part because a well would be 600 feet deep or more; maybe $20K or more.
Is freezing weather a factor? A well is easily frost protected.
I use both above ground and underground cisterns or tanks. The three buried ones are to carry over the winter, the above ground ones are to cover springtime through fall and are used for garden irrigation and horses as well as domestic uses
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fitzpatt
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2019 08:11
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Thanks ICC, I'm in southern Ontario near Algonquin and the average Jan and Feb temperature is approximately -20C (-4f), but it does go as low as -30 C (-22f). Do you also use the rain water for drinking? If so how have you filtered it? I was considering burying a large cistern below frost for much the same reason as you $$$ of a well.
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ICC
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2019 15:43 - Edited by: ICC
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100% of water used here is from the sky.
Here's the short story. As well as the steep cost for a 600+ foot hole being drilled, there is the question of water quality. The original homestead site a couple of miles away had very hard water. Loads of calcium. The arsenic content was also high as was the amount of iron. Neighbors all around have similar water quality. A friend experimented with rainwater catchment about 15 years ago and was very happy with the results. So when I decided to build a new modern place I went with rain too.
There is a first flush diverter that dumps off the first rainfall. Most light sprinkle rains are diverted. All water collection surfaces are metal roofing panels.
Everything collected receives an initial chlorine treatment. I have epoxy coated concrete cisterns that are buried in a hillside behind the shop, and poly tanks that are above ground. The water that is earmarked for domestic use is checked and the chlorine content adjusted as necessary every month. That water goes through filtration to get rid of the chlorine and treatment residues before household use. Water used for gardens, trees, livestock does not receive further treatment.
Water flows from the roof tops downhill to a row of poly tanks (1500 gallons each). I use solar electric powered pumps to move that water uphill to the in ground domestic purposed cisterns every so often, unless sunlight has been short and then I use a gas pump. . There is also 10,000 gallons of water in two concrete underground cisterns that are earmarked for wildfire protection use. I have sprinklers on the roofs of the home, shop, barn, and hanger and can wet down the main area if needed. That can operate off the solar even if I am not here.
The underground tanks have some sprayed on closed cell foam as well as a skirt of sheet foam that spreads out and then down in a trench. The idea is to make an insulated umbrella to trap heat that rises from the lower earth. I've never had a freeze up.
I have made a similar, but much smaller, cistern at the remote hunt cabin with a 500 gallon spherical cistern that is buried. Basically we built a foam box over the buried tank with the open end facing down. There is an insulated hatch box that allows access to the manhole sleeve and cover.
For the cabin I used a Rule inline marine bilge pump that operates on 12 VDC. It sits in the bottom of the tank and does not have a foot valve, so when it is turned off the water drains back down to the level in the tank. The water lines above ground and into the inside storage tank drain out every time the pump stops. They never get tp freeze up. Of course the piping inside the cabin has to be drained or winterized just like any cabin or RV that is not heated over a freezing winter.
I guess the decision for well or cistern storage of rainwater is complex. Personal desires enter into it as well as all the costs of well vs storage.
A further factor in my deciding to go with rainwater was that the old well was 500 feet deep and in the last few years I used it it went into slow recovery mode a few times. A few neighbors just had new deeper holes drilled as their solution. But the aquifer level is being pumped down over time so drilling deeper lost some appeal because of that.
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fitzpatt
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2019 16:21
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Thank you ICI, I appreciate the insight
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