I’m writing this post on the first day of fall, so Happy Autumnal Equinox!
During the summer months, I had a problem that really smelled! My cistern started reeking like a sewer! Ugh!
Okay, that’s enough exclamation points for one paragraph. Let’s get to work on solving the problem.
First thing I did was to reach out to the co-leader of my 2020 cistern installation team. Here name’s Madeline, and you can find her on page 4 of this Resource Sheet (PDF file).
It was a few weeks before a very busy Madeline was able to do an on-site consultation. While I waited, I noticed that the smell went away.
What was going on? According to Madeline, our early June monsoon storm brought us some much-needed rain. And then we didn’t get any more until July. That was plenty of time for my old water to mix with my new water, and…
Ugh!
Then the rain deejay bailed us out. Stink in my cistern gone. Hooray!
Now, what if your cistern keeps on stinking? Might be an algae infestation in the tank.
Pour a gallon of bleach into the tank and wait at least a week. As soon as your cistern stops smelling like a swimming pool, the algae has been killed and you can use the water on your plants again.
Since I’ve spent much of this post talking about bad smells, you may be wondering what a healthy cistern smells like. Short answer: It won’t smell like tap water. It will smell like a freshwater pond.
Another Learning Opportunity!
Check out Martha’s new audiobook and eBook, Water Harvesting 101. It will help you get your water harvesting journey off to a strong start.