.: The daily water supply

Because of the increasing demand of the growing city, the more tide resources and an old water supply system there is no continuous water supply directly to the tap. The Indian system requires more infrastructure in the house or compound, which one should understand to handle it oneself or understands interruptions.

Starting point is a non-continuous corporate water supply and a missing pipe pressure. Therefor each house has a ground sump and a top tank. The corporate water will run into the ground sump, which normally has a capacity of approx. 4000l or more. The water inflow can be a small dripping or a good flush. With a self-closing valve the input will be stopped if the water level reaches full tank to avoid overflow. A regular check helps you to find out if the supply is sufficient, if leakages are in the house system and if the water is good means clear. If in the hot season the supply is not enough you can call a water supplier, who comes with a tanker and a hose pipe and fills your sump. The normal water tanker or tractor has a capacity of 4000l. The prices are varying depending on the area and demand and the cost is around 200 INR.

To get the necessary water pipe pressure you have a water tank on top of the roof. Normally plastic tanks with capacities of 500l till 5000l, sometimes there are more than one for big or multifamily houses. Here you need to pump up the water from the ground sump. Simple systems require a manual check of the top tank or you pump water up till you here the overflow. Some houses have electronic level-controls. The first system can lead to more or less funny situations like an empty toilet flush or a still soapy end of a shower. But with a little routine such situations are very rare.

Understanding that little water system the focal points of checking and maintenance are:

the water input, cleanness of sump (once a year to clean from inside), closing of inlet valve, leakage of sump, entering of roots or animals, cover of sump openings, inlet of tanker water
the top tank, cleanness of tank, proper cover to avoid dust coming in, overflow, leakage of system, if existing level control,
pump, electrical connection, isolation and grounding, clogging of pump filter

To make it more confusing, there are solar thermal systems too below the top tank to harvest the sun energy for heating your water, there can be a grey water tank too to collect the shower and kitchen water for your gardening or even a rainwater tank with a filter system. In some houses there are professional big electro-chemical water filters or softeners integrated.

In apartments and walled communities you have often centralised systems and thus you don’t have to take care, but no worry once understood it is easy and the helper in the house can handle the system independent.