405 Water problems

Can anyone either explain the principles of water supply to me in simple terms or point me in the direction of a website that would explain it please?

We have been advised to add some kind of extra water cistern to the system in our country village house to cover us in case of water shortage. As a townie whose only experience is of water supplied whenever I turn on a tap, I find it hard to comprehend what's actually going on.

Category
Building/Renovation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/12/2005 - 05:22

Water in many places can be in short supply in the summer months (in Sicily most of the time for example) in other places (like the Marche for example) many of the water lines are old and made of iron,during earth movement or sometimes just from field ploughing these old pipes break.Sometimes days pass before one is aware and the small back up resovoirs become empty then the water stops.To avoid this problem it is normal to pipe from the mains into a reserve tank (we have 5.000 litre reserve here) so if anything does happen we hopefully have a few days autonomy..
Similar and equally important things regard your own septic tank system for sewage waste (no sewers in the countryside).

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/16/2005 - 06:59

I guess I'm really asking about water pressure. We are at the top of our village and in times of shortage, houses below ours can have water while ours does not. I'm told that the problem is that there's not enough water pressure and that a tank will help. It appeared to us that water was available late at night (presumably when demand was low), but not during the day. I can see how demand would deplete supplies, I just don't quite see the whole picture. We've been told that the tank would fill up at night.

So how long will 5,000 litres last? How many baths/showers will that provide?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/16/2005 - 07:42

We have the opposite problem; water comes down the hillside for about a kilometer and a half creating very high water pressure problems and there can be very cold temperatures at night in winter. We have installed a 5,000 litre water tank which we think will probably last around three weeks for two or three people. So far this has worked but we still have to be careful about exposed pipework and junctions on the hillside in winter. We had two frozen junctions earlier this year which we didn't notice for a week unfortunately. A storage tank seems a good idea, can you can put in an underground cistern to store water?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/16/2005 - 08:09

Having a water tank is fairly common in the UK as well as in Italy. It's only in recent years that mains water pressure systems have been developed in the UK that don't need a cold water tank.

Ideally with a system that uses a tank, hot water and washing water should come from the tank. Drinking water should still be taken from the incoming mains.

The system itself is simple and automatic - water from the incoming mains fills a tank which has to be high up in the house (higher than any tap that is supplied by the tank). The tank fills via a valve when the tank is full, the water supply is shut off. As you use water from the tank the tank fills again automatically. If he mains water has run dry you will be able to sue water from the tank until that dries up as well. All taps in the bathrooms and the hot water cylinder should be supplied by the tank. A plumber will know what to do.

You should consider rainwater collection for the garden or, if you have the space and you can afford it, have a well bored for your own use.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 10/02/2005 - 10:31

I've got a similar problem - halfway up a mountain with an unreliable supply in summer. Our supply is directly from the mountain and not treated - fortunately we have a supply of the nicest mountain water for drinking a few miles up the road. With regard to the house supply, I'm wondering if it would be ok to keep in a tank? as it's untreated could it build up algae etc or will it be fine - any advice would be appreciated. Also do they have the same sort of tanks as in the UK and where do you get them from.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 10/02/2005 - 10:58

[QUOTE=italiastar]I've got a similar problem - halfway up a mountain with an unreliable supply in summer. Our supply is directly from the mountain and not treated - fortunately we have a supply of the nicest mountain water for drinking a few miles up the road. With regard to the house supply, I'm wondering if it would be ok to keep in a tank? as it's untreated could it build up algae etc or will it be fine - any advice would be appreciated. Also do they have the same sort of tanks as in the UK and where do you get them from.[/QUOTE]
Make sure any tank you intend using is for potabile water, it will normally be of plastic, and should be OK providing it is kept covered, dark and reasonably cool. my house still has such a system, but, I beleive it's not normal nowadays, speak to your plumber.