We have 2 Cisterns in our town (very few hydrants in town). 1 is town owned, the other is privately owned. We are in the process of getting the town tank replaced because it leaks bad. I am curious
1. Does anyone have a town bylaw requiring cisterns in non-hydrant areas that puts a housing development in? 2. Do you have any regulations for privately owned cisterns? The private system we have in town has probably not been touched for MANY years. Because it's on private property I want to depend on it, but I don't want to risk causing any damage to it and being responsible for it. I plan to have the association get it maintained and provide documentation about the reliability of it. I am working close with my building inspector on both of these. Thank you for any input on this!!!
Hi John in Hopkinton we do have a cistern bylaw in our subdivision regulations, but honestly we're transitioning away from it in favor of residential sprinkler systems. Our primary drivers are maintenance of these, which can be a nightmare, and manpower requirements to effectively use them. More than once we've gone to do an inspection and found the water levels significantly down or even empty. There are many developer incentives for residential sprinklers, which not only provide better protection for residents and firefighters, but also complement your entire Community Risk Reduction plan. No municipal water no problem, pump/tank solutions are easily implemented these days. More info can be found homefiresprinkler.org or feel free to reach out, I'd be more than happy to discuss our experiences with home fire sprinklers.