cistern

The rainwater cistern arrived today. We're using a 3,000-gallon polyethylene tank made by Norwesco, which was sourced by the company that designed and provided our rainwater filtration system, Rainwater Management Systems. The indoor components - a pump and three filters - have already been installed, and the next step is to connect the cistern to our gutters and to the filters.

The tank weighs 404 pounds empty (12 tons when full of water), so wrangling it around the side of the house took the efforts of three steel workers, two truck drivers and one surprisingly limber professor...

Someone had to guide the tank onto its concrete pad and make sure it didn't hit the house.

One reason we chose a relatively small tank was our concern that there be enough space to hang a debris diverter (a metal box that keeps leaves and branches out of the smaller filters) and a vortex filter (a 30"x12" cylindrical plastic assembly that removes smaller particles before the water enters the tank) below the gutter and above the tank. The black polyethylene prevents algae growth inside the cistern, though it will absorb a fair amount of heat during the day, making for some very tepid water in our faucets. Of course, we could always paint the tank...