Water Cistern Installation
Historically, water to be used for drinking and various household and family purposes was often hauled water or rainwater collected and stored in an underground tank known as a cistern. This water was then filtered, treated and used for general household purposes such as drinking and washing. Even though we are in modern times in some areas, rainwater is still collected, stored in cisterns, and used by some families. Today, however most stored water used for drinking and common household purposes is hauled from a potable water source.
Cisterns are also used today as storage capacity for wells or springs of low quantity. Cisterns used to be primarily constructed out of brick, concrete, or steel. They are now primarily constructed out of reinforced concrete, fiberglass or polyethylene plastic. Some steel tanks still exist but they are not as common. The concrete tanks can be either precast (poured and cured at a concrete plant and hauled to the location) or they can be formed and poured in place. The larger sizes of cisterns tend to be poured-in-place concrete or fiberglass rather than precast, due to expense and hauling difficulties. The purpose of this circular is to provide guidance to those individuals who have limited access to on-site water supplies such as springs and wells. Specifically, this circular is to be used to assist individuals in the placement, construction, operation, maintenance, cleaning, filling, and disinfection of cisterns on their property and by cistern manufacturers and contractors.
Any cistern you install must be located 10 feet from any foundation and have positive drainage away from it so as to prevent any surface water from contaminating the interior of the cistern or its water supply. The cistern is required to be 50 feet from waste water treatment drainfields and 25 feet from septic tanks.
Precautions must be taken to assure that water cisterns and their accessories will not freeze during winter months. The top of the cistern must be installed below the frost line. Generally speaking, in areas where snow will cover the ground during freezing weather, the top of the cistern must be installed a minimum of two foot deep. The snow cover must not be compacted by foot or vehicular traffic, as it will lose its insulating qualities.
In areas where no dependable snow cover is expected, the top of the cistern must be insulated with a high-density insulation board. One inch of high-density insulation board is approximately equal to one foot of earth in insulation value.