Why are there no rain water tanks in Thailand?

[f0xxee]

Hi all,

There are a few topic on water supplies at the moment, and the subject interests me.

Recently in Australia (well NSW) there has been an incentive by the Gov't to subsidize rain water tanks for new build houses and I think it includes retro-fitting rain water tanks too.

In a land where the rainfall is far higher than poor old Aus, why is rain water not collected in steel or plastic tanks?

Having grown up on rain water, nothing is better that rainwater from a steel tank on a hot day, or better for the skin and hair.

Now obviously the old asbestos roof does not for a happy drinker, but on tiled or colourbond roofs (corogated steel) the catchment area is excellent.

Back on the farm we have 2 x 10,000L tanks semi-underground... it gets us through the dry season.

Why not here? I see they collect run off in large clay pots, but not in any substantial way.

[margaretcarnes]

Good point f0xxee. Never thought about it before, but collecting rainwater is certainly on the increase here in the UK - mainly because of the cost of mains water supplies. And we don't even have the droughts suffered by Oz and LOS.
I can think of only 2 possible answers. First the practicality. Traditional Thai houses don't have guttering, so the run off couldn't be channelled into tanks. My guess (having observed the effect of heavy rain there many times) is that it actually makes more sense to allow the rainwater to propel itself well clear of the house walls, as it does naturally.
Guttering would need to be maintained, often wouldn't be accessible, and leaks/overflows from it would quickly damage walls.
Second is simply the 'mai pen rai' philosophy. Buddha provides the rain and it is accepted as His will that there will be times of flood and times of drought. Excess rain soaking into the ground is Buddhas way of providing the crops - who are we to interfere with that by diverting some of it for personal use?
It will be interesting to see others thoughts on this!

[migrant]

My brother in law works at a resort north of BKK in the boonies. We visited for a few days last trip.

They have an extensive system of gutters that run into large cistern type containers (above ground).

They can move the gutters as the containers fill.

The water is used for a variety of purposes, not sure about drinking, but everything else at least.

[HansMartin]

Actually there are rainwater catchment systems in Thailand. My wife is from Koart and in her village (on the road to Khon Kaen), the houses have gutters that discharge into large concrete jars. The are about 4-feet high and hold several 100 gallons each. Too bad I can't find the pictures that I took.

Here is a link i just found

http://www.adb.org/water/actions/THA/Jar-Culture.asp

[hhfarang]

That's what every house uses up in my wife's village in Issan and I thought that was used in most rural areas in Thailand, much more than any where else I've ever been. Here is a photo of my mother-in-law's house.



Sorry, this is the best photo I have of it but if you look through the fence under the homestay sign you will see a huge (earthen/clay/ceramic?) pot in the shape of a giant flower vase. She has two of these connected to rain gutters on the roof of her house, one in front that collects the rain from the left side of the house and one in the rear that collects from the right side. They have a special metal lid and a place for the pipe to come in with the water and are made specifically for this purpose.

This used to be her only water source. Now the village has a well and water tank but it is still unreliable and she depends a lot on rainwater.

[hhfarang]

It took me a while to find, resize, and upload that last photo and I didn't see HansMartin's post until after.

Yes, the pot in his link is exactly what they use and I guess it is made out of cement.

[richard]

You mean these?



Every house in the village has 3 or 4 and they use as drinking water too

[f0xxee]

Thanks for all the interest!
Yes I have seen the rain water jars too (what i referred to as clay pots in my OP.)
The point taken on gutters is well made: I would think one catchment surface (rather than gutter a complete house) would be enough to fill 2 x 10Megalitre tanks in a week or two. I guess the trick will be to find someone who can roll corrogated steel into a cylinder and get a liner made. (In the old days we would render them with cement for water tightness.)
Perhaps a business opportunity?
Cheers!

[Khundon1975]

My father in law is a great believer in washing his car every opportunity he gets. He would even wash mine when we arrived there.

Up at the farm in Nakon Sawon, he collects rainwater from the roof into a 2000Lt blue water tank for the purpose.

The only problem with water collected off the roof is dust, so I had an electric pump and 2 of those glass filters fitted to the system to solve that problem.

Next trip out I hope to take a de-ionizing filter to fit into the system, that will stop the problem of the final rinse water, forming water droplets on the cleaned car.

That will bring a smile to his face and earn me some brownie points.

[Sabai Jai]

Yes - some people / areas do store some water - as for building tanks / reservoirs into housing i'm not too sure - water soon gets all kinds of things living and growing in it out here - but can still be used for 'Grey water' puposes

Similar to the other often asked questions - Solar panels, wind power and heat insulation etc etc...

Sabai Jai

[STEVE G]

I've thought about water storage and when I build in Hua Hin I intend to put in as much tankage for rain water as is practical.
I thought about a large concrete cistern, but I think the blue plastic tanks will work out cheaper.
Last year we had two large ponds dug on the farm in Issan to store water for farming. They come alongside a small road so we can collect the run-off and in a monsoon downpour it's amazing how fast they fill up.
They didn't even cost us anything as building contractors who need infill will dig you a large hole for free as long as they can have the soil.

[margaretcarnes]

If those large pots are in fact made of concrete there is no way the water collected in them should be used for drinking. Even earthenware (most commonly terracotta) pots wouldn't be safe unless glazed inside. Which they would have to be anyway to make them watertight.
Which raises another question I've been pondering lately. How do the Thais fire those large pots? You do see them all over the place there so maybe having kilns large enough is worthwhile. But I suspect they are more commonly wood fired, and I'm not sure if that method would effectively (and safely) fix a glaze.
Either way the water collected in them is only OK for car washing, general cleaning and gardens. I would be wary of even using it for bathing on a regular basis.

[migrant]

My wife grew up in Tha Yang, just north of Cha Am. She said they always drank out of the terra cotta pots, and that it had a glazing inside.

I agree Margaret that it's not healthy, but she said they've been doing it for generations (then she took all three arms and gave me a hug )

[margaretcarnes]

How many legs then?

If the pots are glazed properly no probs. Back to my Q though - how are they fired? Come on you guys - someone must know!

[Sabai Jai]

The old unglazed terracotta pots are fine as long as you are not in an area with heavy metals or some other mineral that can be dangerous in accumalation.

They are used all over the third world - they do lose some water - by evapouration which has the effect of cooling the water.

Don't know how they fire those big pots - they come from Ratchaburi traditionally I think...My Missus's mother came from there I'll ask

SJ