Homesteading Multipart Series Part II - Cisterns

 

We are continuing our series about what homesteaders need for a successful homestead and whether or not you should buy a functioning homestead or start from scratch. Today we will be discussing water and in particular Cisterns.

Most homesteads will not have tremendous rises on which to build a “gravity feed” system that will have a 300 ft head. In Appalachia where I am from there are plenty of mountains and streams from which to gather water and use gravity to create massive amounts of pressure. However, our homestead here in central Kentucky has some rises but not sufficient to generate the kind of pressures like municipal water.

When we bought this homestead there were 2 old dilapidated barns that were too far gone for us to save. But one of the features of these old barns is that they had concrete cisterns that was there to catch the water that ran off the barn and utilize it for the homestead. One cistern is 10 ft wide by 14 ft long and 8 feet tall. Just so you know that cistern would hold 10x14x8 = 1120 cubic feet of water. That is a little better than 7500 gallons of water. This cistern was used for livestock and gardens.  It was basically on the same level as the house and the closest barn to the house fed rainwater off its roof into this cistern. The concrete of this cistern is totally degraded and will never be usable again. 

The 2^nd cistern was up on the hill. This is about a 20ft rise in elevation and about 5 feet above the 2^nd story of the house. This cistern was massive and the walls were concrete and about 10 inches thick. It was 20 ft x 14ft x 13 ft deep.  It would hold 20x14x13x7.5 = 27,000 gallons of water at full. This water would weigh about 108 tons. The weight of the water would be what created the pressure down below. This water was used for the livestock and the water for the house. The addition of occasional chlorine would have kept this water potable. However, since it was collected from the roof of the barn there would also be other pollution problems AKA bird poop. So this water would need constant monitoring. But it does not have the drawbacks of mountain stream water and silt. The size of the barn this water was collected from was 45x60. It took 120” of rainfall to fill that cistern to capacity. Here in central Kentucky we get about 45” of rainfall per year. Or in other words an average of 3.75 inches per month. So this cistern probably was never full. There is a steel pipe running from the gutters into the top of the cistern. It has a flat concrete roof so no light could penetrate it. There is a steel man sized hatch in the roof for access into the cistern. The old ladder inside is rusted too much to trust to climb down in there. It does make a great perch for varmint removal with a lawn chair for comfort. Someone has knocked a head size hole in one side about 9 feet up. I assume to be able to check on the level of water without climbing up on top. 

My sons house also has a cistern. Apparently it was a successful water management system here in central Kentucky. It is also a concrete cistern sunk into the ground. His cistern is below his house. It captures the rainwater from the house. It is a round cistern about 10 feet deep and 6 or so feet in diameter. They used a pitcher pump to extract the water from this Cistern. It is only a few feet from the back porch and has a man sized hatch to access it. I assume this was to clean it out ever now and again. One good thing about concrete cisterns is they keep down algae by being completely dark. 

So what are the drawbacks to a cistern. Well, for one the water can get stale. Algae can accumulate on the roof of the barn and be washed into the cistern. Metal roofing helps to curtail this but natural roofing can cause issues. Since the cisterns were made of concrete there would be some losses to absorption. I have not seen any indication of a liner in these old cisterns. If I was going to reuse these I would want to line them with some type of modern material. Care must be taken to keep insect larvae out. They bring many problems to water quality and must be checked often. If you do not chlorinate the system you run the risk of contamination and bacterial growth.

In calculating you can consider the average person uses about 3000 gallons of water per month. According to our water meter Crystal and I use an average of about 4900 gallons per month. So, a modern family of 4 today usually uses about 12,000 gallons per month. At this rate of 3.75 inches of rain per month this cistern would accumulate 6328 gallons of water per month. As you can see over the average there will be a shortfall of nearly 5700 gallons per month. So rationing of water would have been a common thing here. With an outside toilet and pan baths of old this was not an issue. But when bathrooms and washing machines made their debut that is exactly why this homestead also eventually installed a well.

Cisterns have their drawbacks, bacterial growth, insect larvae, chlorination, and water quantity based on rainfall. But, my large cistern will figure into my SHTF plans here on this homestead. But like most things here I have sequestered it down on the list. I hope I never have to utilize it. But it is there just in case.

I hope this finds you well. Send up a prayer for us and we will do the same for you. I hope we never have to use our old cistern but it is here if we need it. In the next issue in the series we will discuss wells on the homestead. Remember establishing your homestead will take years. Homesteading, Like Life, is a Marathon NOT a Sprint – Slow Down and Enjoy the Ride.

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