Having a safe and clean water cistern is very important. To ensure that you have a guaranteed source of safe and drinkable water that flows from your water cistern tank, you should take the time to clean it every 5 years or so. This can be done on your own, without the need of experts\’ help. Cleaning your water cistern tank is also important to ensure a longer life span.
What are water cisterns?
Rainwater harvesting is a very simple way of conserving nature’s most precious resource. You do not necessarily need big and expensive equipment to do so. All you need is some creativity. Back then, when there were no main pipes to bring water into the house, people relied on natural sources for water. These sources consisted of rainwater, wells as well as streams and rivers. Out of all these sources, rainwater remains easily available for harvesting anywhere in the world. Basically, a rainwater cistern does exactly what its name says; it collects rainwater in the cistern to be used for birdbaths, watering plants, drinking, and other daily usages. In a rainy climate, installing a rainwater cistern might provide you with independence from your normal tap water supply that flow from the treatment plants. This is why your water cistern tanks should be clean for you.
- Whether it\’s a newly installed tank or one that\’s been there for a couple of ages, you should always clean it thoroughly. To do so, drain out all the water first. By doing so, not only are you getting rid of old water, you will also be able to step into the tank to clean the insides.
- Once the tank is empty, use a broom and brush to scrub the inside walls and floor of the tank to get rid of sediment and excess dirt.
- Next, mix a quarter cup of bleach with 10 gallons of water. Use this mixture to scrub the walls of the tank. This will get rid of the more stubborn dirt from the inside surfaces. For safety purposes, make sure that your tank has good air ventilation for the bleach fumes to escape as it can be harmful when trapped inside the tank. The next step is to rinse off the bleach. To do this, use a hose to spray down all the inner surfaces of the tank. Once the tank no longer smells of bleach, it is thoroughly cleaned.
Additional Reading:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/7-tips-for-cleaning-and-sanitizing-water-cistern-tanks
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/omaromar/617273965/
