Looking for plans for outside sink/shed using water cistern, Porta Wash.

[newbury]

I thought I started a thread similar to this a few years ago but couldn't find it.

I'm building trails and doing "stuff" in the woods.
I like to have places to wash my hands and small things when I get them dirty.
I seem to have acquired a number of sinks of various sizes.
I have a lot of once used metal roofing sheets.
I've several IBC totes of about 300 gallons.
The average annual rainfall in my Mississippi area is up to 60 inches, or about 30 gallons per square foot.

So I'm looking for "plans" or suggestions on building a SMALL shed type structure, say 3'x3', hooked up to a water storage unit, say a 300 gallon IBC tote, with minimal plumbing. I'd was thinking to structure it similar to the small ice fishing shanties I grew up with in the '60's in Vermont.

Then I can crank out several of them and drop them around my properties. I figure if I make the roof 4'x4' I can easily collect a full tote of water annually.

I'm not looking to put them on trailers, rather I'd plan on putting it on my 3 pt forks.
Suggestions?

 

[Deere Dude]

Do think that water will be any good? I have a couple I use for rainwater for watering trees and the water gets pretty stagnant because of debris build up. I think that is a good idea though. I would put a porta-pot of some sort in there if it was mine.

 

[newbury]

Do think that water will be any good? I have a couple I use for rainwater for watering trees and the water gets pretty stagnant because of debris build up. I think that is a good idea though. I would put a porta-pot of some sort in there if it was mine.

I was worried about that years ago.
I put one out the summer of 2012.

simply to test catching the water off the roof of a shed. Water ran off the roof into an old cooler whith the cooler drain positioned above the top opening. The top opening was covered with a "filter" (a stocking on top a piece of hardware cloth). I look into it occasionally over the summers and pour in some chlorine and and vegetable oil (for mosquito control in case they sneak through the netting)

It filled up quickly and I've used it for water for my lumber mill and washing mud off my hands and implements. I expected it to become algae soup but it hasn't so far. I last used it in July this year. I probably should drain it occasionally

Putting a porta-pot in is mission creep and raises another bar of waste management. I'll settle for a place to stand and a bar to hold on to. Plus toilet paper packed with the tractor

 

[Wagtail]

Do think that water will be any good? I have a couple I use for rainwater for watering trees and the water gets pretty stagnant because of debris build up. I think that is a good idea though. I would put a porta-pot of some sort in there if it was mine.

Mate, that's all I use is rainwater as I've not got access to town water... not that I'd want to hook up to the town anyway, my 50,000ltr tank has the sweetest water I've ever tasted! I refer to it as champagne. My entire house is plumbed exclusively to my tank.

There's a second 5,000ltr tank off of my shed that I use to water my horses. If that runs out I just transfer the line to the main tank.

As to debris? On the one hand; there is a screen over the inlet holes of both tanks. On the other hand; as long as the water tastes like champagne, I'm not going to look in the bottom of my tank! :laughing:

 

[newbury]

Mate, that's all I use is rainwater as I've not got access to town water... not that I'd want to hook up to the town anyway, my 50,000ltr tank has the sweetest water I've ever tasted! I refer to it as champagne. My entire house is plumbed exclusively to my tank.

There's a second 5,000ltr tank off of my shed that I use to water my horses. If that runs out I just transfer the line to the main tank.

As to debris? On the one hand; there is a screen over the inlet holes of both tanks. On the other hand; as long as the water tastes like champagne, I'm not going to look in the bottom of my tank! :laughing:

You have just set off an old f@rt memory -
Back in the '60's I lived w/ my parents on a 30 acre parcel in Northern Vermont. The house was on well water from a natural spring about 100 yards from the house. My Dad routinely dosed it with chlorine about every several months (if I remember correctly). The taste of the water fluctuated with the seasons. One late winter/spring the water started tasting sweet. After about a month, when the snow thinned enough so we could get to to the spring, my Dad found a drowned chipmunk in the well, slowly decomposing.

Since then "sweet water" has had a special meaning.

 

[Wagtail]

You have just set off an old f@rt memory -
Back in the '60's I lived w/ my parents on a 30 acre parcel in Northern Vermont. The house was on well water from a natural spring about 100 yards from the house. My Dad routinely dosed it with chlorine about every several months (if I remember correctly). The taste of the water fluctuated with the seasons. One late winter/spring the water started tasting sweet. After about a month, when the snow thinned enough so we could get to to the spring, my Dad found a drowned chipmunk in the well, slowly decomposing.

Since then "sweet water" has had a special meaning.

I understand very well what you're saying. The tank top screens prevent critters from getting in and drowning... however that doesn't prevent the rainwater flowing through the gutters 'filtering' through whatever is in the gutters. When I do clean the gutters, I purposely don't 'think' about what I'm cleaning out... leaf-litter is one thing, possum scat is another (but our possums are herbivores for the most part).

You can get an in-line filter system for the tank discharge but not a lot of Aussies use them, that I know of.