Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Cistern (again)

The mason's guys have done some digging, but they were having trouble with that one side caving in under the poured concrete curb. So Matt's shoring up that side with some scrap plywood and stakes. Still quite a bit of digging to go so that the downspout drain lines up just above the intake to the cistern.

We've had a couple of rain showers so the water table is pretty high right now and the hole filled up with about 18" deep water overnight. Using buckets and garden hoses as siphons, we get enough out so Matt can get the hole finished.

Again, using an elaborate system of planks and levers and dock lines, Matt and the boys and I manage to get the cistern dropped in place. Again. We're very relieved.

Matt already has the special attachment plug things installed on each end of the cistern, so the next step is to attach the downspout drain line, fill it halfway with water (so it won't "float" out of the hole again) and bury it. This picture gives a pretty good idea of how the cistern is situated in the yard and it's size.

Next step: installing the overflow drain line. There is a 3" tube through the new seawall, so Matt connects it up with the overflow from the tank. Now we wait for rain.
If you're trying to figure out how the cistern will work, you realize that we're not done yet. We'll use the fresh water off the roof to wash the boats and water the yard (the plants that are not sprinkled with city reclaimed water, that is). So we've got a pump on order, and we'll need to hook up power in and a hose out. The hard part is done, though.

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