Table of Content
This practice is especially important after a tap has gone unused for several hours, or overnight. Rather than just letting the water run down the drain during this procedure, you may use it for purposes other than drinking or cooking. Several layers of gravel and sand will make up the filtering medium. The total thickness of the filtering material should be a minimum of 12 inches and a practical maximum of around 3 feet, depending upon the area of the catchment and size of the filter box. A filter the size of that shown in Figure 6 would be adequate for a roof area of up to 2000 square feet for all but perhaps the most intense rainfalls. For this reason, an overflow should also be built into the filter box, as shown in Figure 6.
Cisterns are more likely to harbor germs, diseases, and bacteria. However, they are also more likely to have water when you need it if installed correctly. Moreover, a cistern can be designed for any home, often without the need for on-site surveys. This publication is intended to serve as a guide to homeowners who are planning to build a roof-catchment cistern system. It will also provide useful information to those who already own a rainwater cistern and want to improve the quality of the water used.
How Does a Cistern Water System Work?
Supports for the splash plate should be built into the walls of the filter box, thus allowing for easy removal and refitting of the plate for inspection and maintenance of the filter. The roof water can be diverted manually through a series of valves within the spouting system, or automatic roof washers may be fabricated by the cistern owner or purchased from commercial distributors. The water line from the cistern to the house or other place of use should be buried below the frost line and should be 1 or 1¼ inches in diameter.
Where there is no body of water or well on the property, many homes rely on the use of a cistern. It is filled periodically by a water supply company, or by rainfall. Wells and cisterns both hold and provide water, but their collection process is different. While cisterns collect runoff rainwater, wells tap into supplies of groundwater like an underground stream or spring. Wells are dug into the ground and reinforced, whereas cisterns are often fully constructed and then placed underground.
Customer Service
For this type of arrangement, a single roof-water collection vessel for the entire catchment would be best. Adequate drainage, such as into a gravel-filled hole, should be provided for the roof water that is to be wasted, whether or not it passes through a collection vessel first. A roof washer is a mechanism that diverts this initial, highly contaminated roof water away from the cistern. Once the catchment surface has been washed off by an adequate amount of rainfall, the roof water is once again routed to the cistern for storage. Usually the first 0.01 inch of rainfall is considered to be adequate to remove most of the dust and dirt from the surface of the catchment. In this way, only the cleanest roof water is collected in the cistern, whereas the contaminated roof wash is discharged to waste.
The intake head should be effectively screened and elevated a minimum of one foot above the floor of the cistern to prevent sediment from being drawn into the distribution system. The portion of the intake pipe within the cistern should be plastic. The best position for the intake is on the opposite side of the cistern from the roof-water input pipe. A cistern should be located where the surrounding area can be graded to provide good drainage of surface water away from the cistern. Both of the above steps will reduce the chance of storm runoff contaminating the stored cistern water. A cistern should have sufficient storage capacity to carry the household through extended periods of low rainfall.
What is a Cistern Water System?
Includes everything needed for a complete rainharvesting system. Simplify your project design and installation with a RainFlo complete system. The RainFlo 500AGS system arrives preconfigured with all items installed on the tank. Simply connect the included components to your downspout and connect the downspout and pump to the tank.
But if your home doesn’t have a cistern, could it benefit from one? Water in a cistern can become contaminated, either from external sources or from bacterial growth while being stored. Heavy rains, storms, floods, pollution, and roofing debris can all contribute to contamination. This is why it’s important to know how to test and treat the water before consuming it. So long as you get some annual rainfall in your area, setting up a cistern is one way to use a renewable natural resource to your advantage. Whether you use an above-ground tank or one that’s dug down into the ground, a cistern can help you ensure you have plenty of water for your home.
Pros and Cons of a Cistern
Mining has rendered much of the ground and surface water unfit for drinking or other uses in large portions of these areas. Rural residents have been forced to find other sources of water and they have invariably turned to roof-catchment cisterns. Figure 13 is an illustration of an automatic roof-wash diverter that does not require someone's presence to operate at the start of a rainstorm, as was the case for the previous design. A certain quantity of contaminated roof water at the beginning of a rainstorm is collected in a vessel so that it cannot enter the cistern.
Water entering the cistern from either the roof or a water truck should travel down a 4-inch plastic pipe into a force breaker box made from concrete blocks. The blocks should be set in mortar on the floor of the cistern with the cavities facing up. Slots or openings with an area of at least 13 square inches need to be cut into the lower end of the pipe to allow the incoming water to move from the pipe to the cistern. Force breakers should be installed under both roof-water and water-hauler inlets. A separate input pipe for adding hauled water is another important feature of the well-designed cistern.
The material presented here has been consolidated from scientific research, public agencies, and private firms specializing in domestic water systems. Funding was provided through Title V of The Rural Development Act. If a chlorine taste develops in the water it may be reasonably safe to dose weekly with one ounce for each 400 gallons of stored water. If, due to the absence of occupants, water is not chlorinated for a week or longer, one ounce of chlorine bleach for each 200 gallons of stored water should be added to the cistern upon returning.
The cistern will then need to be drained, sanitized, and refilled. RainFlo MiniGenO3 generates ozone to improve water quality in storage tanks. Treats tanks up to 15,000 gallons, and ships with weighted stone and 20' of tubing.
Rainwater and atmospheric dust that are collected by roof catchments contain certain contaminants which may pose a health threat to those consuming the water. Lead and other pollutants may accumulate in cistern bottom sediments; and untreated rainwater is quite corrosive to plumbing systems. Measures must be taken to minimize these and other water-quality problems in cistern systems.
No comments:
Post a Comment