Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks

by Art Ludwig

This do-it-yourself guide is an invaluable resource for designing, building, and maintaining water tanks, cisterns, and ponds, and sustainably managing groundwater storage. It will assist you with handling your independent water system, fire protection setup, and disaster preparedness plan, while keeping costs low and incorporating ecologically sound designs. It also includes building instructions for several styles of ferro-cement water tanks.

Genres: Nonfiction, Gardening, Construction, Survival, Agriculture, How To, Sustainability

125 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2005

About the author

Art Ludwig is an ecological systems designer with 35 years full-time experience in water, wastewater systems, energy, shelter and human powered transport. His specialty is complex, integrated "systems of systems." Art has studied and worked in 27 different countries, attaining fluency in 5 languages. He has consulted for the states of New York, California, and New Mexico on water reuse policy and building codes, and given dozens of lectures and workshops. He has developed numerous innovations which have been adopted worldwide, incorporated in building codes, etc., all of which he has published into the public domain. These include the Laundry to Landscape and Branched Drain greywater systems.

He designed his own education in Ecological Systems Design, graduating from UC Berkeley. At Berkeley, he developed the first cleaners specifically designed to be biocompatible with plants and soil, and founded a successful business to manufacture and distribute them. Art has authored numerous articles as well as the books "Water Storage" "Principles of Ecological Design," and "Create an Oasis with Greywater."

The past several years Art has dedicated approximately a thousand hours a year to public interest research and sustainability policy activism.

Reviews

[Jessie]

Could not read straight through cause my brain just could process, but very good reference book for when we start working on this

[Godrky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book if you have an interest in how water should be stored. For such a small book, it is covers a ton.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much of this is basic, but it is good to have the basics down pat before beginning a large-scale water-saving project. This is bigger than a water barrel ...

[Christine Kenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Astonishing amount of practical, comprehensive content packed into 125 pages.

The two most striking strengths of this book were:
1. Ludwig uses his experiences remedying poorly designed tanks to help readers avoid similar mistakes designing their new systems
2. There is balanced coverage of convenient systems common in industrialized parts of the world and lower tech time-tested systems in use in less wealthy parts of the world to give designers a broader range of possibilities in terms of cost and water up time.

[Carolyn McBride · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay book, but i was expecting something that would appeal to a broader audience. I did come away with a couple of good nuggets of info, but I was disappointed that it focused so heavily on California and Mexico. Again, it could have had a broader focus and less technical lingo. If the author had written it to be useful by more of us without engineering degrees, it might have been more helpful.

[Gabrielle W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an okay book, but I was expecting something that would appeal to a broader audience (the cover to me looks like the books for DIY'ers. But (as another reviewer said) I was disappointed that it focused so heavily on dry desert regions. And with the bright cover, I was surprised that the inside was black and white...It was kind of technical and though it had a tid-bit here and there that I liked, I feel like there has to be better books out there that covers water storage.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't decide whether to give Water Storage four or five stars. It's excellent, but doesn't cover any form of storage other than tanks in any depth.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you surprised that this book is boring?

[Cheryl Devine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I will be building my own water storage tank using the information found in this book. Also I will probably purchase a tank based on the helpful information in this book

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say I liked this book as literature, but rather for the information it provides.

[Mrs. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro book but not comprehensive, so you will have to supplement with info from other sources.

[Kathely · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good information, but BORING!

[Clivemichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent manual, well written clear descriptions.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on how to build water storage devices. I was very pleased with it.

[Jennifer Linsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gave me many things to think about in regards my own water system. Thank you, Mr. Ludwig.