Water Storage

[chiang mai]

I'm starting to do the planning for the water supply to a new house we built for the family just outside Sukhothai and will be interested to read how others have managed this subject. There is no piped supply in the area and all the other houses rely on wells. The water table is quite high for most of the year although there are stories of some wells going dry in the dry season - presumably and most likely I think this is because the wells are too shallow. Incidentally, there seem to be two cost options involved in digging a well: the first is to ask the local government office to bring along their machine and they will charge a whopping 100,000 baht. The second option is to hire the local man who runs the machine and he will have the well dug by hand and the cost is around 8,000 baht. Presumably the latter option results in dry wells during the dry season but the first option seems extraordinarily expensive.

Regardless of how the well is dug it there will be a well so let's move on to water storage.

It seems that putting in place a tower with a tank on top is the way the supply should reach the house. The house is raised up on three metre posts hence the tower will need to be quite tall and the draw from the water supply to the tank calibrated for the load on the pump. But other houses seem to use an interim storage method that sits between the supply tank and the well and in many cases this takes the form of a large concrete tank. Putting such a tank in place would address the potential dry well syndrome and I suppose if it is buried in the ground and is large enough it could capture the rainwater from the roof guttering.

My questions are many and I'll be happy to hear if anyone has a solution they can recommend or can identify areas of the subject that are problematic. My major question at this time is the viability of building an underground water storage tank out of concrete block etc as described above. Is that a viable think to do? Is there a risk of contamination or leakage through the walls of the tank? Presumably the the underground tank would should be kept full whenever possible and this is the supply that feeds the tower?

Go for it!

Edited February 24, 2007 by chiang mai

[chownah]

Around here there is a third option which is a guy comes with a two wheeled tractor with a pump on it and some steel pipe sections he screws together and a digging bit he puts on the bottom of the first pipe...he then forces water down inside the pipe while he manually turns the pipe back and forth so the bit on the end loosens the dirt and the water washes it up out of the hole around the outside of the pipe. Around here he routinely goes 9 or 10 metres until he gets through the clay and into a white sand layer where water is found. I wonder if that option is also available around Sukhothai? Seems like it cost less than 3000 baht for the labor plus the cost of the 3 inch plastic pipe for the liner.....with a guarantee that if no water is found then he will try again until he finds water.

Of course this will not work in solid rock and might not work in some kinds of gravel deposits.

Also, they make swimming pools with a concrete slab on the bottom and double block walls (all with steel reinforcement) so I guess that this is an in ground tank...but not an underground tank.....seems like you could build a lid on it to make it actually underground. You might consider the cost for building this and then consider if you took that money and got a 100,000 baht well drilled (if what I mentioned above is not an option near you) you might not need the tank and your life would be much simplified and you would have a more reliable water supply....if the 100,000 baht well always gives a good quality, large quantity, year round supply.

There is another thread in the farming forum....I think its called "Irrigation".....there's a website mentioned that talks about a 60 cubic metre above ground tank that was estimated to cost 40,000 baht to construct. It might not be what you are looking for but might give you some ideas.

Chownah

Edited February 24, 2007 by chownah

[chiang mai]

Around here there is a third option which is a guy comes with a two wheeled tractor with a pump on it and some steel pipe sections he screws together and a digging bit he puts on the bottom of the first pipe...he then forces water down inside the pipe while he manually turns the pipe back and forth so the bit on the end loosens the dirt and the water washes it up out of the hole around the outside of the pipe. Around here he routinely goes 9 or 10 metres until he gets through the clay and into a white sand layer where water is found. I wonder if that option is also available around Sukhothai? Seems like it cost less than 3000 baht for the labor plus the cost of the 3 inch plastic pipe for the liner.....with a guarantee that if no water is found then he will try again until he finds water.

Of course this will not work in solid rock and might not work in some kinds of gravel deposits.

Also, they make swimming pools with a concrete slab on the bottom and double block walls (all with steel reinforcement) so I guess that this is an in ground tank...but not an underground tank.....seems like you could build a lid on it to make it actually underground. You might consider the cost for building this and then consider if you took that money and got a 100,000 baht well drilled (if what I mentioned above is not an option near you) you might not need the tank and your life would be much simplified and you would have a more reliable water supply....if the 100,000 baht well always gives a good quality, large quantity, year round supply.

There is another thread in the farming forum....I think its called "Irrigation".....there's a website mentioned that talks about a 60 cubic metre above ground tank that was estimated to cost 40,000 baht to construct. It might not be what you are looking for but might give you some ideas.

Chownah

As always Chownah you have given me some things to explore further and to think about. Thanks.