Cob cob cisterns and ceramic babble.

[Lars Fields]

Vernon B. Johnston wrote:
 
> 
> Your Welcome!  I am enjoying the process of building with earth
> immensely.  It makes me feel good.  As for the cistern, I was
> considering various structures to collect the rain water in.  

snip

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Vernon - 

	thanks a lot for the information about using cob to build a cistern. 
and thanks for more reassurance about the use of cob in high-moisture 
environments (the sauna). 

	what is the height of the cistern? 

	and just for the record, i have no problem with using cement or 
cement-like products. i'm just trying to limit the use of cement as much as 
possible. however, i think i'd prefer a cement-lined water cistern over any 
metal-lined cistern. i'm still playing with the idea of plastic though (i 
wish some of those material geniuses would start playing with low-embodied 
energy plastics already. anybody out there know about the guy who was growing 
plastics in genetically altered potatoes?).
	
	the problem of containing water is a challenge, especially as water 
is the single greatest threat to structures (and especially, especially 
earthen structures). it's not known as the 'universal solvent' for nothing. 
since i'm interested in aquaculture, hydroponics and methane digesters, the 
problem of liquid containment is on my mind a lot. achieving containment with 
only the use of low-embodied energy materials is my goal. whether that's 
acheivable or not, i don't know. the best lead i've got now is ceramics. 
	naturally, i was really excited when i found nader khalili's book 
(for those of you who don't know, nader khalili wrote a book called "Ceramic 
Houses & Earth Architecture" in which he outlined a 'new' technique for 
building an adobe-like house and then actually firing the entire structure 
from the inside-out in order to turn the clay to ceramic, making the house 
extremely water resistant and strong.) 
	khalili also suggests that the same techniques could be used to 
create ponds, cisterns and other water containing structures. to me, the 
thought of an 'aquaponic'-type system for processing wastes and growing food 
made completely out of ceramics is extremely exciting. 
	does anybody know of anybody who has used khalili-type techniques for 
water containment structures?

thanks
lars fields