just got an idea, which is kind of inspired by my grandparents' old
house... at that house, there was a cistern dug in the ground by the
barn, which was uphill from the house. It was plumbed into the basement
of the house, and due to the fact that the hill was fairly steep and far
away, it was possible for the water to reach all the way to the second
floor of the house. So my grandfather had gotten creative with the
pipes and valves, and had things set up so that the cold water supply to
the bathroom could be changed from the cistern to the well, and vice
versa. This way they weren't using valuable well water to flush the
toilet, etc...

I have a 550 gallon plastic cistern, above ground, at my new house.
It's behind the house, and is so located that this trick wouldn't work
for anything but the deep sink. However, I was wondering if it were
possible/advisable to set it up to feed the cold water to the deep sink
and washing machine, so I wouldn't have to use the city water for that.
(yes, I still tend to be somewhat ecologically minded, so long as it's
no inconvenience for me.) The question is, is the setup with valves
etc. as I described above acceptable per current plumbing codes, or is
this a no-no? I suspect that it may not, as if both valves were opened
at the same time, there's a slim possibility of cistern water
contaminating the potable water supply, but I personally would know what
was going on enough to avoid having that happen.

thanks,

nate

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