"Bob" wrote in message
oups.com...

Pop wrote:

A reliable, "good" cistern is fairly expensive to run these days.
You can't have the old open types that used to exist. Where is
it getting its water from?

Pop`

I've always wondered about the old cisterns that gathered water from
rain runoff. Seems like runoff would contain all sorts of insects,
bird crap, etc. Did people use that water for drinking water? Sure
doesn't sound healthy.

Bob

At my aunt and uncle's house in Iowa where I lived in the late 30's, the
downspouts had valves to control the rainwater. They were normally left in
position to dump the water into barrels. After it had rained a while to
flush everything, the valves were turned to direct the water into the
cistern. I do not remember there being any kind of treatment of the water in
the cistern. I remember once they had to have water hauled from town to fill
the cistern. We all drank the cistern water and survived okay.

Don Young