Water tank size?

Brent Zappe · Jan 25, 2017

I bought this place in Benton CA. You might say it is 3.16 acres and I got a well by the house. what I would like to do this spring is buy a water tank for water supply. I plan to use an acre for gardening and yes it would be nice if I do have a power outage to still have water. So I am wondering how big of a tank should be good for me. what size you might think will work. Thanks

jeffcat · Jan 25, 2017

You see all of those flatbeds going down the road with those big opaque square water tanks. Are they 500 gallons? That would make ya a good tank. Hook up your rain gutter to it. Hava a valve at bottom and you just hook up a drip system or soaker hoses. Should cover you all summer long.

casenut1 · Jan 25, 2017

Remember some states out west do not allow you to catch rain water.Might want to check it out.

JayinNY · Jan 25, 2017

Why not? Is the water that contaminated? Or filthy?

jeffcat · Jan 25, 2017

Just not for household use.

casenut1 · Jan 25, 2017

No, some places say the water has to soak into the ground water. They are afraid of people tanking up all the rain they can and the ground water level dropping.

ss55 · Jan 25, 2017

If you plan to irrigate the garden, an acre-inch of water is 27,154 gallons.

Russ from MN · Jan 25, 2017

If you have a well why do you need a large tank? Most people with wells get by fine with a 20-40 gallon pressure tank, if you expect prolonged power outages you should probably have a generator.

Duner Wi · Jan 25, 2017

Search "illegal to catch rain water"
Here is one
http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html

Andy Martin · Jan 25, 2017

Looks like Benton gets about 7-1/2" of rain per [b:0d96ffcef9]year[/b:0d96ffcef9]. And most of that is in the winter. Would be interesting to see how much groundwater is available.

sotxbill · Jan 25, 2017

In Texas...
you own any water that falls on your land. Any water you release from your land belongs to the state. Any water that flows from other properties onto you land can not be captured as it belongs to the state. This is the newer rule, why some very few operators still have preexisting water rights.. this controls rain water and unless you have some prexisting rights and documentation, it controls all rivers and streams.

Sub surface water is being contested now as well. home use is exempt so for. New sub surface commercial use is prohibited without permit and approval. Existing commercial users must meter their wells to show no new amounts of water are being taken, and if drought, they will be first to be restricted. If amounts over their "historical" usage, they will be billed for the water, assuming its available. Large underground aquifer levels are now monitored. Large towns and cities now buy water from the state that stored water that comes out of rivers and lakes.

ss55 · Jan 25, 2017

Is T Boone Pickens still trying to corner the water market in Texas?

casenut1 · Jan 25, 2017

Interesting read, but you need to read the whole thing.

MarkB_MI · Jan 26, 2017

If there's a brush fire near you, you'll never regret buying too big of a tank. For that reason, I'd start with 500 gallons.

gene bender · Jan 26, 2017

keeping water in any tank will cause it to get stale with mold,algea and smell. Water for an acre is a huge amount thus adding to the problem. Having a generator for use when there is a power failure makes more sense. Take a clean 5 gal bucket and fill with water then let is set for a week and you will see/

showcrop · Jan 26, 2017

I think that capturing rain water for a garden makes very good sense. You just can't go by average rainfall. The amount to store will depend on how dry it gets which you can't predict. Maybe you ought to watch for one around 500 gal and start with a 1/4 acre garden and see how that goes. We have had dry years here in NH that have me thinking about catching rain water for the dry parts of my lawn.

Geo-TH,In · Jan 26, 2017

What's the difference between having a tank of water and a well with water you will still need a pump to generate power to move the water? Water tank will freeze up in winter. Water in tank will likely grow an algae if you are collecting rain water.

I have two wells and two 120v RV generators that can run the pumps. I like using 120 volts because I wire pumps with a 12g power cord. I can power pump from generator by running an extension cord to basement and plugging in well. Keep it Simple and safe. KISS

dcarp · Jan 26, 2017

Your reply is so full of inaccuracies and generalities regarding the water situation here in Texas that it would take me an hour to explain the "real" rules. Here in Lavaca County voters have rejected a water district twice so there are no restrictions on new wells & usage. I can capture any surface runoff from my neighbor, I can't however build a dam on a navigational river.Truth is water rights are being litigated in many places in Texas and most of the cases are not settled and won't be until they get to the Supreme Court.

Brent Zappe · Jan 26, 2017

I first want to thank you all for giving me input on this Ideal I had. The house I bought in this neighbor hood back up to land that people do not take care of it. I am concern of fire situation on the open land around me. I would like to have some water for fire protection plus also to do the large gardening of a acer. I can not say farm because I am only 3 acres .16 of property. Yes I am tired where I use to live by people who would state they had a ranch of 1/2 acre they would say it was (say what). I saw one house that had a big black water tank on there property it looks like 1,200 to 2,000 gallons of water tank. It just got me thinking how big of a tank I need for this. Some other houses have above ground swiming pool filled and yes I bet there Ice right now.

Bob Harvey · Jan 26, 2017

Our water is ground water and a shallow well. The well has gotten below the pump pick up a few times so I bought 3 2,000 gal. Black plastic water tanks. Between the 2 of us, watering the garden (but not the lawn) our average usage is 40 gal. per day (look up averages), so we have about 5 months of stored water. The Black tanks make it so that algae growth does not exist. The fire dept. came by a couple of years ago and were happy that there was some reserve on site - nearest hydrant 2 Kms. away. HTH

Eldon (WA) · Jan 26, 2017

(quoted from post at 20:44:45 01/25/17) I bought this place in Benton CA. You might say it is 3.16 acres and I got a well by the house. what I would like to do this spring is buy a water tank for water supply. I plan to use an acre for gardening and yes it would be nice if I do have a power outage to still have water. So I am wondering how big of a tank should be good for me. what size you might think will work. Thanks

I would have the well "flow tested" before you got all excited about growing an acre of garden. Desert land take a lot of water to grow anything...there is a reason everything around you is sagebrush. There might also be regulations on how much land you can irrigate.
We had a young couple that started growing veggies in their back yard and developed a CSA customer base. They needed more land, so they bought a 40 acre farm out in the sticks. They plowed up a big area and started watering from the creek that runs through the property. The neighbors called the State and they came in and shut them down immediately...said they could only irrigate one acre. That was the end of that venture...

glennster · Jan 26, 2017

brent, here is my home made waterin gizmo. its a 1000 gallon water tank on wheels. i have a generator and a jet pump mounted on the back. works great for watering fruit trees. i either fill it from rain gutter run off, my neighbors pond, or from my field tile drainage ditch. i have a 3 inch gas powered trash pump to fill, and also have a canvas fire hose that mounts to the trash pump. just reverse the hose on the trash pump and hook up the fire hose and i have a mobile fire fighter!!

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btw, it does have a new smv emblem on it now.

David G · Jan 26, 2017

I would consider a backup generator for pump before going to the work of storage tank.

It is always best to check out water rights when living in the desert, someone else may own them.

buickanddeere · Jan 26, 2017

How about a generator to power the well pump, lights, microwave and the fridge ?

Mark - IN. · Jan 26, 2017

CA as in California or Canada? I thought that California put meters on everyone's private wells a few years ago, so I hope you're referring to Canada unless they did too. Yep, I just googled "california water meters on wells". Good luck.

Mark

Destroked 450 · Jan 26, 2017

We have a well that supplies water to six homes, each home has a in ground concert reservoir sized from 1200 to 2000 gals. The well fills the reservoirs and each home has a smaller pump to supply that house.
We've never had to worry about algae or stale water in a in ground concert reservoir.
The well for our poultry houses would not supply the needed volume during peek times, we had a concert reservoir poured that holds 40,000 gallons and installed two shallow well pumps for the needed volume and reserve supply if the well quits.
With the nearest fire hydrant 5 miles away, fire dept loves the available water supply they can tap into.

If you want a holding tank go with in ground, the bigger the better (I prefer concert), if you want a portable watering tank look at a 500 gallon poly tank.

ptfarmer · Jan 26, 2017

http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/board_info/faqs.shtml#rooftop

Looks like as long as rain water is collected from roof tops you can collect as much as you can.

oldseabee · Jan 26, 2017

(quoted from post at 16:54:49 01/26/17) CA as in California or Canada? I thought that California put meters on everyone's private wells a few years ago, so I hope you're referring to Canada unless they did too. Yep, I just googled "california water meters on wells". Good luck.

Mark

We do Not have meters on our wells in Commiefornia, YET.
The libtards never give up.

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