Ferrocement Water Tanks Underground

I am getting set up on our new 40 acre homestead, and the first order of business is to set up the water catchment we will need. I'd like to build some ferrocement water tanks to hold the water, though I don't know much about building them. Is it possible to put a ferrocement tank in the ground? Or is it not strong enough to hold up to the pressure from the surround earth? I don't know if I would do it above ground or below ground. I'm just trying to figure out my options right now.

I am not sure how ferrocement differs from the water tanks that have been used for many years on most homesteads.

Most were called cisterns and made from concrete.

Since I cant answer your question I found these threads that you or others might find helpful:

https://permies.com/t/174378/Water-cisterns

https://permies.com/t/157388/Cistern-options-tadelakt-concrete-galvanized

https://permies.com/t/70078/Designing-underground-concrete-tank

https://permies.com/t/18872/Ferrocement-water-tank-resources

I hope someone with the answer will speak up and chime in.

I would not bury home-made cement tanks. As you suggest they probably will crack and implode, and they'll be difficult to repair. A tank manufactured for burial, for septic or cistern use, is the only one I would trust.

The other big thing is that you will lose all the potential energy ("head") that lets you distribute your water by gravity flow (for free!). An underground tank will require pumps to get the water out.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:I would not bury home-made cement tanks. As you suggest they probably will crack and implode, and they'll be difficult to repair. A tank manufactured for burial, for septic or cistern use, is the only one I would trust.

The other big thing is that you will lose all the potential energy ("head") that lets you distribute your water by gravity flow (for free!). An underground tank will require pumps to get the water out.

Thanks! Yeah, I started thinking about what I would need to do to do repairs and realized I probably wanted them above ground. And, that does also help with being able to do some gravity-fed plumbing.