Catching Water: Day 1

Day 1 was a huge success with the cistern installed and set in concrete, the piping ready to be finished off next weekend, as well as sealing the lid on. It took us about 5 hours, 10 volunteers, and 20 bags of concrete mix. I am very very happy with the project, all the help, and the new addition to the yard. Though now that I have a cistern in the backyard, it will certainly not rain for months and months. One can hope.

Mari and Jonathan digging out the overflow basin for the cistern.

Riley working on the inflow piping.
(You made Rudy proud!)

See how much Jeremy likes carrying 80 pound bags of concrete?

Catlow prepping the forms for us to pour in the concrete.

Sun is setting and we haven't started mixing concrete yet.

Mixing concrete by hand is oh-so-fun.

We placed the cistern (no longer a culvert) in the cement before we had as much as we needed because it was setting up too quickly. So we hand dumped it from the top of the cistern (trying not to splatter too much), and then Catlow had the exciting job of climbing down via a carabiner-strapped ladder and rock climbing webbing in order to bend over and smooth the surface inside. He's a good sport.

One might say I was "supervising" at this point.

Ta-daa!
To be continued in one week...