Potable cisterns
Buried, freeze-protected storage for full-time domestic use, hauled or well-fed.
Water Storage & Cisterns · Gunnison County
Cistern installation & low-yield well solutions in Gunnison County
Water storage for properties around Gunnison and Crested Butte. A controlled well fill, a buried poly cistern and an in-tank booster pump help separate slow well recovery from busy household demand.
Potable & non-potableBuried & freeze-protectedFire storage tooRural & estates
Planning your Gunnison County system
Plan how the system will be used between visits
For homes around Gunnison and Crested Butte, establish whether the property is occupied year-round or left unattended for stretches. That affects how the refill controls, low-water protection and service access should be planned. The tank location and piping also need a site-specific freeze-protection approach compatible with the selected tank’s installation limits.
What to send for a Gunnison County cistern quote
- The property address or parcel number, and whether the home has a well, utility connection or delivered-water supply.
- Your well permit and any recent yield or recovery information, plus the number of people using the home.
- Photos of the tank location, truck approach and pipe route, with any known elevation change to the house.
- Whether you need everyday storage, a backup refill connection or a separately protected fire reserve.
We assess the site before selecting tank capacity, pump output and installation details. Any well use, local water-supply approval and fire-district requirements need to be checked for the actual parcel.
Explore Gunnison County excavation services · Plan fire-suppression storage · Request a site-specific quote.
Low-yield well solutions · Gunnison County, Colorado
How a cistern helps a weak well in Gunnison County
A weak well may have enough water.
It just can’t deliver it fast enough.
Take a well that makes 2 to 5 gallons a minute. That sounds fine until you look at what a house actually asks for. A shower, a washing machine filling, someone flushing while the dishwasher runs—the demand adds up fast. If the house asks for water faster than the well can supply it, the water level drops and the pressure can fall off. Without proper protection, running dry can damage the pump.
Here’s the thing: over a full day, that same well may make plenty. A well that can sustain 2 gallons a minute produces 2,880 gallons in 24 hours—almost 3,000. A household using around 300 gallons a day needs only a fraction of that. The well may have the water. It just can’t deliver it fast enough at the moment you want it.
A cistern separates the two jobs.
01 / Refill
The well fills the tank.
It fills at a controlled rate matched to what the well can sustain, with recovery time as needed. A float or level control shuts it off when the tank is full. Low-water protection stops the well pump before it runs dry. The well gets to work at its own pace.
02 / Supply
The house draws from the tank.
Two thousand gallons of storage can carry the morning’s showers and laundry, with capacity sized for your household and guests. Those peak demands draw on the reserve instead of asking the well to keep up in real time. The well quietly catches up between uses.
The pressure comes from a second pump.
A deep well pump already has to lift water a long way. When household demand exceeds the well’s recovery rate, that system can struggle to keep up. The cistern separates water production from household pressure.
Our typical setup uses a buried Norwesco-style polyethylene cistern with a submersible booster pump inside the tank. The booster draws from stored water and sends it through permanent rigid piping to the house. We size the pump and pressure controls for your fixtures and elevation, so showers and faucets have steady pressure within the system’s designed capacity. That’s the part you’ll feel every single day.
What else you get
- A reserve. Stored water buys time if the well pump fails or the source is interrupted. Household pressure during an outage needs backup power or a suitable gravity arrangement. Fire reserve and access can be designed to your fire district’s requirements.
- Better pump protection. Proper fill controls and dry-run protection reduce stress on the deep well pump. The goal is controlled run time and fewer unnecessary starts—not short cycling.
- Options if the well gets worse. A cistern can accept delivered potable water when designed for hauling. You can refill the tank even if the well needs repair.
The short version
If your well makes enough water over the day but can’t keep up at busy times, a cistern can bridge that gap.
The tank lets the well work slow and the house work fast.
The submersible booster pump supplies the pressure. We size the tank to your household, set the fill controls to your well’s sustainable yield, and protect the well pump from running dry. We also check your existing well permit and local installation requirements. Storage does not expand the uses allowed by your permit.
Talk to us about your wellLearn more: Penn State Extension on low-yield wells · Norwesco cistern tanks · Colorado well permitting.
What we do
Non-potable & irrigation
Storage for irrigation, livestock, and site use, sized to demand.
Fire storage
Cisterns that meet fire-district supply rules on Gunnison County parcels without hydrants.
Delivery & hookup
We haul, set, and connect the tank and distribution, start to finish.
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Water Storage & Cisterns in Gunnison County — questions
How much does a cistern cost in Gunnison County?
The complete price depends on usable tank volume, excavation, delivery access, piping, pump and controls. Send the parcel location and source information so we can quote the actual installation.
Can a cistern help my low-yield well?
It can help when the well produces enough water over time but cannot meet peak household demand. If total daily supply is insufficient, storage also needs a workable refill or source plan.
Where does the water pressure come from?
Our typical system uses a submersible booster pump inside a buried poly cistern. It feeds the house through permanent rigid piping, with pump output and controls sized to the fixtures and elevation change.
What should I check before installing a tank in Gunnison County?
For homes around Gunnison and Crested Butte, establish whether the property is occupied year-round or left unattended for stretches. That affects how the refill controls, low-water protection and service access should be planned. The tank location and piping also need a site-specific freeze-protection approach compatible with the selected tank’s installation limits.
Does the existing well permit cover every use of stored water?
Storage does not expand the uses allowed by a well permit. We check the source, intended uses and applicable local installation requirements for the property.
Will the house have pressure during a power outage?
Stored water remains in the tank, but household pressure needs power for the booster or a suitable gravity arrangement. Plan backup power if pressurized water during an outage is a requirement.
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