Installation of water deposito

[Wicksey]

Has anyone here had experience of having a poliester water deposito installed? There's quite a few in the hills around here, the big bottle/flask shaped ones. We are going to need one as living with only pool and bottled water is not going to be feasible long term.

I contacted the water delivery company that a lot of people are now using just to check that they can pump water up the hill to where we plan to put the tank. After many Whatsapp messages, photos and measurements being exchanged, they say that we have to install the pipework from the tank to the driveway with a special connector on so the lorry can connect and pump up the water. I've never heard of this before and wonder if anyone else knows of anyone having to provide all the special connections.

Being August, trying to get anyone interested in giving us the quote for the work is proving difficult anyway. The rate we are going we won't have a tank until at least late September, and we have no idea when any decent amount of water will be put into our existing shared deposito. This week only 1m3 went in , so only 340m3 to go to fill it up . 50m3 would be enough to give us a head of steam and allow us to refill the pool and irrigate, plus a bit for Paco's trees (providing he doesn't just drain it empty as he did this time, leaving us with nothing ) We've run out a number of times before, but there was water to refill the tank again within the week, but now it is obviously very limited. Looking at the local tree plantations, a lot are very wilted, so I imagine there's numerous people in the same boat.

[vinuela vinny]

Hi

We are in the campo 63k east of Sevilla. We had a 7,000 litre deposito installed about a decade ago when the water level in our well became erratic, particularly in the summer. There is no 'town' water in the campo where our house is located, and we were reliant on a 20m deep well

The new system diverted all water from the well to the deposito, and then from the deposito to the house and or the pool. The installation cost just over €2,000, but would likely be more now. The erractic water table was thus taken out of the equation, with the deposito kept filled automatically when water was available to the well, which was quite sufficient for our needs. This automatic system operated excellently for about seven years, and we never had to fill the deposito from any source other than the well.....

About three years ago, the water table was so low that it became clear that in the next few weeks both the well and the deposito would be empty, so we needed to fill the deposito from another source. Through our local co-operitiva, we identified a local farmer who had a 3,000 litre bowser, and who was delighted to deliver water to our house (bowser hauled by a tractor which was small enough to fit through our gate). By means of his mobile pump / generator, he was able to pump water up about 1.5m from the bowser into the deposito. He charged €50 per load to cover his time, with the water being free to him from his co-operativa membership, and the price is still the same. We use the farmer once or twice a summer. The farmer is now a great friend, and an excellent source of good advice on living and surviving in the campo. A full deposito will last the two of us five weeks while we are there, and of course we always have 'grey' water' collected from rainfall in several 200 litre tubs to water the garden, and 57,000 litres in the pool. The pool becomes a low priority when our well occasionally runs low......

We never drink the water from the well or the deposito, but use it for showers, dishwater, washing machine, etc, and always use bottled water for drinking, cooking, teeth brushing, etc, although the farmer assures us that the water is safe, and that his family (all obviously in rude good health) have used the water for generations.....

I can send photos or indeed would welcome an inspection or social visit, but not until we return in October (90/180 rule - we are non-resident)

Hope that this helps

[Wicksey]

Thank you very much for your response which is very interesting. We are in the campo and have always had non-drinking water, (no water at all at our first house for 8 years, just collected rainwater, but that's when it used to rain!). Friends have old fashioned wells and a bore hole, the former is dry and the latter are very low, and everyone has depositos due to the water not necessarily being available all the time.

This is the first house without its own as Paco who previously owned the land and built our house and next door had a 350,000L tank built on the hilltop behind our house, which was supposed to be our water supply. The water contract is in his name but the water action is split between our two houses in the contracts we both have with him. Now Paco has 200 mango trees next to our house he has decided to use our water tank so merrily drains it in a few weeks. Due to cut backs in the drought, the local supplier of water to the farmers here (Patamalara) has reduced output so no-one is getting very much. This week only 16m3 has gone into the tank which has not even reached the outlet pipe down to our house yet.

Anyway, after a frantic couple of days we have successfully found a builder and I have ordered the 5000L poliester tank only just in the nick of time as the company is going on holiday for two weeks from now. The price of the tank is 907€ and then about 1000€ for the building work and gruas needed to transport everything up the hill. The deposito won't be ready until the end of September so I think we'll be needing a water delivery into the pool to top it up as that's our only source of water for now.

You're lucky to have found a good neighbour to bring you water at that price. The company that many around here are using is charging 105€ for 4000m3, although I know the more you have the cheaper it is. A local builder charged a friend about 240€ once for a small load ..... total rip off but we cannot find many companies around here to deliver.

So, apart from 'camping out' with buckets and bottles of water everywhere, we are managing and at least there is now the promise of having our own storage facility by hopefully the end of next month.

[olive]

Hope you get sorted sooner rather than later. No fun making do without water.

Unless Spain invests in a national water grid or goes into desalination big time, I cannot see the water situation improving year on year as Spain heads towwards greater desertification.

[Wicksey]

Thanks olive, we have water today .... what bliss to be able to have a proper shower after 11 days! I wrote on another thread that the Paco says the water company has told him he can only have 45m3 over the next two weeks, and we have spoken to other farming neighbours who have said that they are getting water, but only a little every day. We should hopefully have our tank installed by late September which will be a help. The pool water is OK in an emergency but I prefer my water out of the tap if possible.

[Lyric]

Where were you going for a holiday Mrs W ?

[Wicksey]

Where were you going for a holiday Mrs W ?

Que?

[Lyric]

I was inferring that the holiday will be cancelled due to the expense .........

[Wicksey]

I was inferring that the holiday will be cancelled due to the expense .........

It's less than the cost of the cruise I had booked when Covid started and then was cancelled when the company went bust Being unvaccinated I won't be cruising again any time soon, so why not treat ourselves to a lovely new deposito instead Covid saved us an awful lot of money in lost holidays