The Norwesco 825-gallon underground cistern (SKU N-43569) is a buried water storage tank molded in white polyethylene, rated to a 1.9 specific gravity and sized for rural homesteads, rainwater cistern systems, and remote sites that need real reserve capacity below grade. It ships LTL freight from Norwesco's plant in Owego, NY, quoted live to your ZIP. The tank measures 92 inches long by 60 inches wide by 51 inches tall, so the excavation footprint is 60 by 92 inches and the dig depth is driven by that 51-inch tank height plus the bedding and cover Norwesco specifies. Full of water it carries roughly 6,880 lb, and the shell is rated to a maximum contents weight of 13,073 lb, leaving substantial margin for a buried, backfill-supported install.
Will it work for your install?
For an underground water storage cistern, the numbers that decide your dig and your bedding prep are footprint, depth, and loaded weight. At 60 by 92 inches you are excavating for a tank that holds the full 825 gallons, and the 6,880 lb full-water figure tells you what the bedding under the tank has to carry once it is filled and the soil is reloaded around it. That 6,880 lb is well inside the 13,073 lb maximum rating — the shell is built for liquids up to 1.9 SG, so on plain water at 1.0 SG you are running at roughly half its rated load, with real margin for water service. Use the Tank Sizing Calculator to confirm 825 gallons matches your draw and recovery, and the Tank Sizing Guide if you are still deciding between cistern sizes. Underground tanks are installed empty and filled in place; review the bedding and backfill requirements on the technical drawing on this page before you set it, and note the fitting layout there since fitting placement on a buried tank is fixed once it is backfilled.
The mistake to avoid
An underground polyethylene cistern is not a plumb-it-and-bury-it tank. The two failures that wreck buried installs are a poor bedding base and improper backfill or dewatering, both of which let an empty or partially filled tank shift, float, or distort before it is loaded. Follow Norwesco's burial instructions exactly for bedding depth, backfill material, and filling sequence, and keep the excavation dewatered until the tank is filled. The 13,073 lb maximum contents rating assumes the loaded shell sitting on proper support — it is not a license to skip the base prep. Before you commission it, run a hydrostatic acceptance test to verify the fill, watch for pad settlement, and catch any fitting leaks before backfill is fully closed out. If this cistern feeds a rural fire reserve, our guide on fire-water reservoir tank design covers NFPA 22 sizing discipline and cold-climate freeze protection. For grey-water, rainwater, or HVAC condensate aggregation, see our water reuse tank topology guide.
Freight
This underground water storage tank ships LTL freight from Norwesco's plant in Owego, NY, quoted live to your ZIP code. Get a number before you order with our Freight Cost Estimator, or call 866-418-1777 and we will quote the cistern to your site and walk you through underground install prep. Listed at the price on this page, before freight.
