The Norwesco 1175 Gallon Underground Water Storage Cistern is a buried polyethylene tank for sites where above-ground storage is not an option - rural homesteads pulling from a well or hauled water, fire-water reservoirs, and seasonal-supply buffering. Molded in white polyethylene with a 1.9 specific-gravity rating, it holds 1,175 gallons in a low-profile horizontal-cylinder form (51 in high x 60 in wide x 127 in long) engineered to sit below grade and out of the way. This is the underground water tank, cistern, and holding-tank workhorse buyers reach for when the storage has to disappear under the yard.
Will it work for your site?
A full water load is 9,800 lb, and the shell is rated to a maximum contents weight of 18,619 lb. That headroom is the 1.9 specific-gravity rating in practice: the shell is rated for liquids up to 1.9x the weight of water - up to that 18,619 lb of contents - not just the 9,800 lb of plain water, which is also why this buried model tolerates the backfill and saturated-soil loading an underground install puts on it. Plan your excavation around the 60 in x 127 in footprint plus working clearance, and a hole deep enough for the 51 in tank height plus bedding below and cover above per Norwesco's burial spec. Underground tanks live or die on the install, so before you backfill, confirm bedding, anti-flotation provisions, and proper venting against the OEM burial instructions - the dimensional layout is on the technical drawing shown on this page. Fitting, manway, and gasket sizing aren't listed here, so call 866-418-1777 to confirm the exact inlet/outlet and lid configuration before you order. Size the tank to your real draw with the Tank Sizing Calculator and Tank Sizing Guide so 1,175 gallons matches your demand and refill cadence.
The mistake to avoid
The number-one underground-cistern error is treating the buried shell like an above-ground tank: it must never be installed empty in a high-water-table or saturated trench without the manufacturer's anti-flotation and backfill discipline, or the tank can float or deform. Match your bedding and cover to Norwesco's burial spec, not a guess. If you are commissioning a new install, our hydrostatic test methodology guide walks the water-fill acceptance, settlement monitoring, and leak-detection hold-time math worth running before you call the job done. For rural fire-protection storage, the fire-water reservoir design guide covers NFPA 22 sizing and cold-climate freeze protection, and operations aggregating grey-water or rainwater for reuse can plan banded storage with the industrial water-reuse topology guide.
Freight and ordering
This cistern is stocked at two Norwesco plants - Owego, NY and Georgia - and ships LTL freight from the closer origin to your ZIP, quoted live; freight is not included in the list price. Get a real number for your delivery address with the Freight Cost Estimator, or call 866-418-1777 and we will quote the freight, confirm burial-spec questions, and stage your order. List price is before freight; we quote LTL to your ZIP every time.
