The Norwesco 1425-gallon underground water storage cistern is a buried polyethylene tank built for sites that need real reserve capacity without a footprint above grade. At 51 inches tall, 60 inches wide, and 157 inches long, it lies horizontally below grade and holds roughly 1,425 gallons for cistern duty, rainwater capture, hauled-water storage, and rural water reserve. The body is molded from polyethylene in white, with side inlet flats formed into the shell to provide flat landing areas. Because it is buried, the 51-inch height is the vertical dimension you dig to, before you add cover and bedding depth on top of it.
Will it work for your site
On an underground water tank, sizing the burial and the pad math matters more than on anything above grade, because everything is hidden once it is in the ground. Filled with water this tank carries about 11,884 pounds of contents, and its maximum rated contents weight is 22,581 pounds against a 1.9 specific-gravity rating. Plain water sits at 1.0 specific gravity, so at full water weight you are at roughly half the structural ceiling of the shell, and the 1.9 rating leaves real headroom if you ever move to a denser fluid. The footprint to excavate around is 60.0 by 157.0 inches. If you are still settling on capacity, the Tank Sizing Calculator and Tank Sizing Guide will help you match this 1,425-gallon body to your draw and refill cycle.
Underground install discipline
Buried water storage and cistern tanks live or die on backfill and bedding done correctly the first time, since you cannot easily reach the tank afterward. Plan your bedding so the long 157-inch shell is fully and evenly supported, and confirm inlet, outlet, and access positions before you excavate. Fitting configuration is set at order time rather than assumed, so call 866-418-1777 to confirm the inlet, outlet, and access arrangement, and to confirm that bulkhead fittings and gaskets at each buried penetration are matched to the tank wall, before anything goes in the ground. New installs of any reservoir tank should also be proven before they are buried and covered; our guide to hydrostatic test methodology for new-install tank acceptance walks through water-fill discipline, settlement monitoring, fitting leak detection, and hold-time math so you catch a problem while you can still fix it.
Where it fits in a water system
This Norwesco underground cistern is a common backbone for rural and remote water reserve, including private fire-protection storage; our guide on fire-water reservoir tank design for rural and remote sites covers NFPA 22 sizing discipline and freeze-protection engineering, both of which favor below-grade storage in cold climates. For reuse-oriented systems aggregating rainwater, grey-water, or HVAC condensate, see the guide on industrial water reuse tank topology for how an underground cistern slots into a quality-banded storage train. Dimensions of the buried body and the inlet flats are shown on the technical drawing on this page.
This Norwesco 1425-gallon underground water storage tank ships LTL freight from the Owego, New York plant, quoted live to your ZIP. On a 157-inch tank shipping from a single Northeast origin, freight is geography-sensitive, so run your destination ZIP through the Freight Cost Estimator before you commit, especially for West Coast sites. Or call us at 866-418-1777 and we will quote freight, confirm lead time and fitting configuration, and help you spec the right cistern for your site.
