Water Tanks

Our neighbors, the somewhat impulsive landscape designer and her husband a cerebral doctor with a tendency to overthink things (not unlike OilMan...just different things) have been engaged in a 'discussion' about the necessity for having extra water storage in our neighborhood which is outside the city limits. Everybody has a well, accessed by an electric pump and the nearest fire hydrant is a mile away. 

The power company is sending us letters about proactively turning off our power if there is a fire emergency, defined as high temperatures and high winds combined with super dry grass and vegetation.  The letter itself is a masterpiece of bull bleep....what they are telling us, in language designed for a kindergartener, will be called a Public Safety Power Shutoff. What they are really telling us is that we will be without power or water with little to no warning anywhere from 48 hours to forever, and should plan accordingly....

The doctor thinks it would be a good idea to have a water tank and a generator in case of such a power shutoff. The landscape designer  says there is no way she will have an ugly water tank, like the green one on the right side of the picture, anywhere in her beautifully landscaped garden. Although we have plenty of space for a water tank, OilMan thinks there is a lot more to having a back up generator than going down to Home Depot , buying one and plugging it in.

During the fire in 2017 the fire service helicopters took water out of swimming pools. We knew this because when we returned, their backyard locations were marked with large blue arrows painted on the street.

We were at Harmony Farm Supply today and while OilMan hunted for irrigation widgets, I wandered into the back lot in which  has suddenly appeared a large stock green or grey water tanks in many sizes along with piles of pipes and valves and related supplies. Behind it all looms a water tower made from redwood wine storage tanks. I wonder if my neighbor would see this as an acceptable solution?

As with so many other aspects of 'modern living', there are still a few houses in the neighborhood that have old fashioned water towers. Most of them have been converted to storage sheds, guest cottages or observation towers. Wouldn't it be a novel idea to begin restoring them to their original use?