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Author: Subject: Building a Water Pila
fire
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[*] posted on 9-22-2018 at 08:45 AM


Having lots of water in the desert is not a bad idea!!!
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ncampion
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[*] posted on 9-23-2018 at 01:24 PM


Does anyone know what the lifespan of a standard black Rotoplas tank is?(5,000 l) I hope it's a long time as mine are now 9 yrs. old and I hope to never have replace them in my lifetime. (They are shaded at all times)



Living Large in Loreto. Off-grid and happy.
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Bob and Susan
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[*] posted on 9-23-2018 at 03:29 PM


15 years




our website is:
http://www.mulege.org
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KylesBahiadrean
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[*] posted on 7-23-2020 at 04:06 PM


I’m a water treatment guy. what’s the long term storage plan for that much water? and what’s the long term disinfection plan? Do you live down there full time ? I’m just curious I always thought people kept the amount of water to a minimum because of storage and disinfection problem.. like legal advice I will not give any information or solutions to these problems cause I don’t want it to come back to me later...
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RFClark
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[*] posted on 7-24-2020 at 01:11 PM


When I was working near Roserita Beach years ago I had a chance to see how Mexican tract builders do water storage. They dig a round pit and put a round plastic tank in it. They built a block wall around the tank and poured the garage slab over it with a hatch to gain access. The tank was 7K to 10K L.

When we built our house we did much the same thing. We dug an 8’ round hole 6’ deep. Cleared the rocks out to make a sandy bottom and grouted around the tank with cement, filling the tank as we grouted to balance the pressure. We placed 3 courses of 6” concrete block around the tank to bring the top level with the dirt around it and poured a patio slab with a hatch over the access hole in the tank.the house is raised with the patio under the front half. 10 years with no problems and the water stays between 85F and 70F. Worked so well we put a 2nd one in the garage floor. We can transfer water when necessary. The garage is the fire reserve tank.

2 of us use 400 gal/week and our truck hauls 400 gal. The well is 8-9Km north and water costs 100 pesos a load.
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RFClark
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[*] posted on 7-24-2020 at 01:27 PM


Water treatment guy.

We have sulfur and Iron in our water. We treat that in the storage tank with H2O2. We transfer to a smaller 400gal tank for use. We bubble the small tank with Ozone daily and add bleach every couple of weeks. No iron or sulfur problems and no water quality other than a Chlorine smell.

The Water is very hard 3000 ppm dissolved solids but the water is reasonably soft. Wells near the beach have lots of salt even miles back there’s some. No one drinks the stuff!

The above description is for discussion only I’m not qualified to offer advice and your results may be different than ours!
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David K
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[*] posted on 7-24-2020 at 01:40 PM


If you are lucky enough to buy a lot at Playas Pacificas, you won't worry about water! Rob gave me a tour of the facilities at his Rancho La Aguja development.




Note the "with water" part!

[Edited on 7-24-2020 by David K]




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KylesBahiadrean
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[*] posted on 7-24-2020 at 07:51 PM


Quote: Originally posted by RFClark  
Water treatment guy.

We have sulfur and Iron in our water. We treat that in the storage tank with H2O2. We transfer to a smaller 400gal tank for use. We bubble the small tank with Ozone daily and add bleach every couple of weeks. No iron or sulfur problems and no water quality other than a Chlorine smell.

The Water is very hard 3000 ppm dissolved solids but the water is reasonably soft. Wells near the beach have lots of salt even miles back there’s some. No one drinks the stuff!

The above description is for discussion only I’m not qualified to offer advice and your results may be different than ours!


Hey I wasn’t expecting that at all..I expected “we just filter it”

Good job honestly..
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RFClark
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[*] posted on 7-24-2020 at 11:00 PM


We filter it too! Water is very important in the desert! I think most just add bleach and filter it. You’ll discover that a lot of us do all of our own utilities and road maintenance as well. It’s common to separate gray water and use it for irrigation as well.
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JDCanuck
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[*] posted on 4-11-2022 at 06:11 AM


Found this thread after my newer post on rainwater recovery and use as I didn't know what a "Pila" was. Thanks to Pacificobob for posting his pics, looks like this may be the best way to accomplish what we are looking for.




A century later and it's still just as applicable: Desiderata: http://mwkworks.com/desiderata.html
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JDCanuck
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[*] posted on 4-12-2022 at 08:53 AM


Quote: Originally posted by pacificobob  
a photo of the last 10 tanks being installed




10000 liter storage tanks.jpg - 46kB




A century later and it's still just as applicable: Desiderata: http://mwkworks.com/desiderata.html
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