The Norwesco 1750 gallon underground cistern is built for buried bulk water storage where an above-ground tank won't fit the site - rural homesteads, rainwater and water-reuse trains, and any application that needs the storage underfoot instead of overhead. It holds 1,750 gallons of fresh water in a rotationally molded polyethylene tank, measures 157" long by 69" wide by 51" high, and ships from the Norwesco plant in Griffin, GA. Rated to a 1.9 specific gravity - nearly double water's 1.0 - the polyethylene wall has real margin for the buried load and for denser-than-water contents if your service ever changes. This is a heavy-duty water cistern, not a thin-wall rain barrel.
Will it work for your install?
Filled with water, this tank carries roughly 14,595 lb of contents, and its maximum rated contents weight is 27,730 lb - the headroom that lets it handle a buried load and a backfill envelope. Plan the excavation around the full footprint: 51" tall x 69" wide x 157" long is your starting hole envelope, so add bedding depth below the tank and working clearance around all sides when you dig. Access is through a single 20" lid, which gives you a working opening for cleaning, inspection, and plumbing the riser. The drawing shows the lid as the listed access point, so plan your inlet/outlet penetrations, bulkhead fittings, and gaskets as part of the install - and because fittings on a buried tank are hard to revisit, confirm the access and fitting layout against the technical drawing on this page before you set the tank in the hole. If you're not certain 1,750 gallons is the right reserve for your draw rate, run the numbers with our Tank Sizing Calculator and Tank Sizing Guide.
The mistake to avoid
Underground tanks fail at the install, not the tank. The two errors that end cisterns early are improper bedding and burying empty. Set the tank on clean, compacted bedding free of rock and debris, then fill the tank with water in step with the backfill so the internal pressure balances the soil load pressing inward - never backfill an empty tank. Budget your rigging accordingly: the tank sets empty and light, then carries roughly 14,600 lb of water through the fill-and-backfill sequence, so size your equipment for both stages. Before commissioning, run a hydrostatic acceptance test and watch for pad settlement and fitting leaks; our hydrostatic test methodology guide walks the water-fill discipline and hold-time math. For sites pulling double duty as a private fire reserve, our fire-water reservoir design guide covers NFPA 22 sizing and freeze protection, and water-reuse builders should read our water-reuse tank topology guide.
Freight
This cistern ships LTL freight from the Norwesco plant in Griffin, GA, quoted live to your ZIP - get your number with the Freight Cost Estimator or call us at 866-418-1777 and we'll handle the quote and the schedule. Tell us your delivery ZIP, whether the site has forklift access or needs a liftgate, and your target delivery window, and we'll line up the most efficient routing for an underground water storage tank this size.
