Rainwater Harvesting – Will the Cistern Technology of the Last Two Centuries Work Today?

So-called “green” rainwater collection in rooftop sheds with rain barrels or above ground collection tanks reduces the catchment that currently overburdens some of our municipal storm sewer and drainage systems. Still, could we do the same by installing underground cisterns similar to those used during the 1800s and early 1900s?

Description of the previous cisterns

Many old houses and farms still have the remains of their first underground rainwater cisterns. These rather large, round, airtight, rootless cisterns, from 500 to 5000 gallons, were made of brick, stone, rock, plaster, concrete, or combinations of these materials. Each of them was capped with an above-ground manhole big enough to hold a large bucket. This opening allowed the cistern to be periodically cleaned and repaired by the owner or by an external service.

The tin or galvanized gutters that were then used on the eaves of the houses, which lowered rainwater to the cisterns, were open and not covered. Therefore, a large amount of wind-blown tree leaves and seeds and other debris could become the cisterns. For that reason, the suction end of the iron plumbing was located above the floor of the cistern, where the debris would eventually settle.

This soft and relatively clean outdoor water supply was connected directly to the long-handled handpumps installed in the kitchen and bathroom sinks and bathtub in the main house. It was also connected to the hand pump in a small building behind the house that served as a summer kitchen and a place for laundry, canning garden products, and slaughtering chickens and pigs. This water supply remained relatively cool and thawed throughout the year. Generally, it was used for cooking, dishwashing, cleaning, canning, butchering, and bathing. But it could also be drunk after boiling it.

modern cisterns

Modern cisterns function in much the same way as those described above. However, instead of being built into the ground from scratch, they are buried pre-made. That is, these cisterns could be precast concrete receptacles, or they could be large precast sturdy plastic tanks capped with rather large screw-on lids, similar to those seen on certain lawn treatment trucks.

In addition, today’s aluminum, steel, plastic or copper eave gutters will have porous or solid covers. Thus, the amount of debris entering the cisterns from the roofs will be minimal. However, the fine sand-like material thrown up by asphalt or composite shingles will need to be filtered early during the harvesting process; otherwise, it will eventually have to be removed from the buried cistern. The plumbing for the modern cistern will be a heavy plastic pipe. Of course, the pump itself will probably be electric, its size and accessories depending on how the collected water is used.

Most likely, because most of us already have reliable, purified municipal drinking and bathing water supplies, this cistern water will be used for outdoor purposes, such as sprinkling lawns and gardens, filling fish ponds and small treated pools. swimming pools, to water trees and animals, and to wash vehicles, driveways, patios, terraces and houses. The following three advantages of the modern buried cistern system suggest that this technology will work well today: 1) they are hidden from view and out of the way by being underground, 2) they do not encourage algae or mosquito production during working hours. summer, and 3) help conserve municipal storm drainage systems and drinking water supplies.

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