Water storage

Living out here in the country as we do, storing water is vital.

We have several different types of water storage.  First, we have a gutter up on one of the outbuildings and put a large tank up for rainwater storage.  We call it our "pond"...

Polliwogs in our pond

We have a thriving environment there.  Birds come to drink... and snakes.  The tree frogs come and lay their eggs.  So we get to enjoy the tadpoles.  I love polliwogs!

Our granddaughter just LOVES the pond.  She is always trying to catch things in the water.  We don't have any running water up here on our dry ridge.  So this "pond" is what we have.

Playing in the pond

Here's Tammy and Ariel playing in the pond.  We now have a brim in there... and we didn't get many tadpoles last year.  I guess that's to be expected.  There are still snails in there.  There are water lilies, cat tails, a really vibrant peppermint.  It's a great space!







We also have a water barrel set up on the patio, again to store rainwater for watering plants and chickens.

Rain barrel on patio

Storing rain water is great, but this water would have to be filtered in order to use it in the kitchen.  And so, here's how we solve that problem.


The Big Berkey water filter.

It's a great filter.  We got our's at Lehmans.  Lehman's Nonelectric catalog 

Big Berkey water filter

This system will take your pond water and make it potable.  No electricity required.  And that's why we purchased it.  To filter rainwater or river water when we need it.  I keep it full with well water, and use it every day all day long.


For more longterm potable water in case of emergency, we also have an electric distiller.

I distill water to use when I can food.  I also use it to make pickles.  Or when someone from out of town is here to visit.  They may not LIKE the taste of our well water, since it's very "hard".


Now, those systems all work.  But our biggest water issue is how to get water from the well.  As I mentioned in my article about bad weather here, we have a large generator we got after the ice storm on 2009.  Our well pump is 400 feet down, and we haven't found a hand-powered well pump up to the task yet.  We could invest in a windmill, but we don't have sustained winds here sufficient to operate one...  So the generator is what we must use.

We've talked about investing in a very large storage tank & having it buried.  Maybe 400 - 500 gallons or so.  But we haven't done so yet.

Last summer we have 7 people living here.  2012 was the hottest year on record in this part of Arkansas.  We also were very short on rainwater.  And yet, our family had no water issues.  Everything worked well.  Clothes got washed, dishes got washed and people got washed.  We didn't water the garden as often as we'd have liked.  But that was more because of the temperature than concerns about the well.  There's no sense watering plants, just to have them fried by the sun.  Other than okra and plants in the nightshade family, I don't know of much that LIKES 111 degree temperatures.  Or even 100 degrees for weeks on end.

Anyway, in case of emergency, we also have a Waterbob.  This is a 110 gallon plastic bladder that you fill in your bathtub in anticipation of power outages/bad weather.  It comes self-contained with it's own hand pump.  We got it in 2009, and have never needed to use it.  But we do have it, just in case.

We feel confident that we're prepared for an emergency.  And we have our water needs met for our every day use.  Many people living in urban areas don't, and aren't even aware of it.  I hope someone living in town reads this article and thinks about their water needs in an emergency.