Cistern as a water source? (Billings: houses, purchase, to live in)

[Olive Cox]

What does having a house with a cistern mean in terms of the water requiring testing, treating, or running out? I used to live in the mountains of Colorado and we had a well that ran dry. It required having a company come out to drill for more. I am looking at houses in Billings that have cisterns. Just curious what having a cistern entails. Thank you.

[Threerun]

A cistern is literally just a holding tank. We have a 500gal cistern.

Our community has a community well. It's pumped uphill to a holding tank, then flows to users cisterns. The water from the cistern is pumped in to the house via a pump. The pump is smaller compared to a pump down a well- it doesn't need to work as hard as pulling water from a depth.

I'd ask what is the supply to the cistern?

[Shuffler]

Our cabin in N CO has a cistern. It's been ~40yrs and no issues, other than monitoring the water level to make sure it doesn't run out. Tastes funny, though. We filter it and/or take bottled water for drinking, but otherwise use it for bathing, toilet, etc.

Bigger concern would be scum/algae buildup in the tank, and how that is resolved, short of draining the thing and having it physically scrubbed down and flushed out from the inside.

"First World Problems" I suppose.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

Our cabin in N CO has a cistern. It's been ~40yrs and no issues, other than monitoring the water level to make sure it doesn't run out. Tastes funny, though. We filter it and/or take bottled water for drinking, but otherwise use it for bathing, toilet, etc.

Bigger concern would be scum/algae buildup in the tank, and how that is resolved, short of draining the thing and having it physically scrubbed down and flushed out from the inside.

"First World Problems" I suppose.

Ours is buried so it stays cold throughout the year, plus we use water daily so it’s exchanging constantly. No algae, mold or anything like that. Once every few years I’ll shock it with bleach.

[jmgg]

Cistern water is not very naturally filtered. Like mentioned, it's a holding tank very often filled by run-off water.

Make sure that you do a good job of filtering the water before using.

[ejisme]

I've also heard of people having a cistern to collect roof/rain water to use for garden and landscape irrigation, but still have a well or municipal water for drinking, cooking, etc. Also seen people that have no water source and truck in water from a filling station in town (or have it delivered). Mostly seen this in eastern Wyoming and South Dakota on rural properties outside of small towns, then they put that water into a cistern for normal use in the home.

[Wytempest]

Originally Posted by ejisme

I've also heard of people having a cistern to collect roof/rain water to use for garden and landscape irrigation, but still have a well or municipal water for drinking, cooking, etc. Also seen people that have no water source and truck in water from a filling station in town (or have it delivered). Mostly seen this in eastern Wyoming and South Dakota on rural properties outside of small towns, then they put that water into a cistern for normal use in the home.

We have a 1850 gal cistern. Two adults, two equines. We use about 1000 gallon a month. Haul it 30 miles to our cabin. Remote and off grid. About $6 bucks for the water a month. Drilling a well would come close to $100k if you could even get a driller. Booked out.

[OneDawg]

Had a thousand gallon cistern that collected water from a spring uphill from the tank. Pump in tank to the house and a pressure tank under the house for 30psi. Never had a problem until one summer when the spring slowed down and sulphur smell emanated from the tank. Had a specialist come out and he installed a whole house filtration system. Cost maybe a thousand dollars. Put the wife’s mind at ease. The alternative was chlorination.

[Threerun]

Originally Posted by Wytempest

We have a 1850 gal cistern. Two adults, two equines. We use about 1000 gallon a month. Haul it 30 miles to our cabin. Remote and off grid. About $6 bucks for the water a month. Drilling a well would come close to $100k if you could even get a driller. Booked out.

It only cost you $6 bucks to purchase and haul 1,000 gallons 30 miles?

[Shuffler]

Originally Posted by Threerun

It only cost you $6 bucks to purchase and haul 1,000 gallons 30 miles?

I had the same thought - water is just over 8lbs/gal. 1000gal x 8.34lb/gal is 8340lbs, over 4 tons

Water might be cheap @ $6 but hauling 4 tons 30 miles is going to "cost" more than that.

110K to drill a well sounds crazy ... although we just got a quote for almost $10K to install a manual hand pump in our existing well, so that in the event of a sustained outage we can still pump water.

Flathead River is close and we could haul water manually, about a 2mi round trip. This assumes we're not taken out by zombies or roving gangs of cannibals in a SHTF scenario.