The new aljibe

Hola, buen dia.

I am sure you have been keeping track of the weather here in Sonora.

We have been in a severe drought and it has been miserable around here.

Back in February, Alamos was put on a water restriction program. Supposedly, you would receive water from the city every other day.

Because we live on a slight hill, that schedule really meant no water for us because there is not enough pressure in the system to bring the water uphill from the well that services our street.

 We have received water through the city lines maybe 3 or 4 times since February.

 However, when this happens the city is obligated to send what is called a PIPA, a water truck, to your home 2 times a week to fill your aljibe or tinaco or whatever you collect water in. We usually get the PIPA once a week and are grateful for that.

We have a small aljibe and a large tinaco on the roof. The roof tinaco supplies the house and the aljibe supplies water for the laundry and the yard.

They each hold around 3,500 litres of water.

We quickly realized that they don't hold enough water so Senor decided to build a big aljibe.

It is our intention to have it fill from rain water only. But Senor put in a pipe system that can be accessed by the PIPA if we have to go that route.

Our roof is slanted and the columns in the photo below have big pvc tubes in them. The rain water will run down the roof, through the columns and in to the aljibe.

In this photo below, a pump house is being built. A rock wall will go around the edges.

The aljibe is 8x20 feet and 8 feet deep. It holds 40,000 litres of water.

In the photo below the aljibe is ready for concrete arches and supports and wooden beams were then placed on top. Once the concrete cured the beams were removed through that square hole you see in the top of the aljibe, a hole just big enough for a man to get in and out of. In the photo above, the wood beams are right below the cement board.

We have had rain for 3 nights, giving us 3.7" of rain.

Our new aljibe has 6 feet of rain water in it.

I think Senor is pretty pleased with himself. 

I am trying to convince him we need a fireplace and some bancos

on top, a nice little outdoor party spot.

 I think it will happen.

Okay, gotta go.

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou