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How to Care For a Cistern

There are several famous cisterns throughout the world that were built to hold very large amounts of water, and are engineering marvels. A cistern, however, is nothing more than a waterproof receptacle for holding water, and there is no specific size associated with cisterns. Many modern cisterns̵7; primary purpose is to collect rainwater, and this grey water is suitable for things like watering the garden. For such a cistern, very little care is required, but if you plan to use cistern water as drinking water, a little more care needs to be taken.

Things You'll Need

Scrub brush
Food-safe cleaning product
Bleach

Instructions

- 1
  Inspect your cistern thoroughly at least once a year. Look for any leaks or gaps. The cistern lid should fit tightly, to avoid contamination and insects from getting inside. If your cistern collects rainwater from gutters, then you should also inspect the screen used to filter out any debris, and if damaged, you will need to replace it.
- 2
  Clean your cistern at least once per year. The process for this will vary, depending on the size of your cistern, but you should remove all organic matter that has settled at the bottom of the cistern, and you should scrub down the inside of the cistern with a food-safe cleaning product.
- 3
  Disinfect your cistern after cleaning it, after heavy rain falls, and every time you fill it with water, and at least once every two weeks. Disinfect the cistern by adding 3 fluid ounces of fragrance-free bleach for every 1,000 gallons of cistern water.
- 4
  Wait 30 minutes, and then inspect the cistern for a residual bleach odor. If there is not an odor, you need to add half of the previous amount of bleach. Check again, in 15 minutes, for the bleach odor.

Nature