Big Rainwater Catchment Jar

[canopy]

Rainwater catchment jars are commonly 2 cubic meters. I would like enough water to make it through the dry season. Rather than buy a bunch of smaller tanks I was interested in just one big one since it will allow for a smaller footprint. I read somewhere Thailand was (still is?) producing a 11 cubic meter ferrocement jar. Anyone know if really big jars like that are available anywhere?

Another question: regardless of size (within reason) I would actually prefer a real clay jar rather than the normal ferrocement jars painted brown. Is there such a thing?

[billd766]

I have 20 of the 1.5cu/m ferroconcrete ones from the time a few years ago that the village ran out of water for a couple of months and they were around 900 baht each.

It may seem a lot but at that time we had about 10 people living on the site.

Be aware that 1 cu/m of water weighs 1 ton and an 11 cu/m one will weigh 11 tons plus the weight of the container and that is a lot of weight in one place.

I had a slab built for mine.

dam_n it has loaded both and I can't get rid of the full size one.

Sorry.

Edited October 11, 2009 by billd766

[canopy]

Nice, but hey 20 of those tanks is not much if it needs to supply water across the dry season. I read in a book Thailand started making a widely available 11 cubic meter ferrocement tank in the 1980's. I have not noticed any. Imagine how small your water storage area would be with just 3 tanks and you would have even more water. Seems the advantages of the bigger tank is less footprint and generally better water pressure due to the increased height. Getting a few jars the size you are using seems fine for a backup water supply but I am looking for year round supply.

[Cuban]

I've looked at both solutions to mass water storage, I am looking to progress with multiple large jars and a custom built tank on the grounds of space, spreading the risk of loosing the water due to leakage * or contamination via decomposed dead animals. Also keeps the pipe work runs simple from each roofing surface.

* Any large tank may cause the ground it is on top deform and result is container failure.