Build It, Buy It

Portable Water System Maintenance For Contractors

As a contractor who has taken on a project in a rural area, you and your crew rely heavily on a portable water system. This is the water that will keep your crew hydrated, keep your machines running, and supply you with all the water you need to mix mortar, concrete, cement, and other building materials. There is just one more thing you need: water system maintenance. This type of maintenance can help you recycle some "gray" water and reuse it via a portable water system, but the system needs to be maintained while the project is ongoing. Here is what the maintenance process looks like.

Gray Water Dumped or Pumped into a Separate Holding Tank

Gray water is dumped or pumped into a separate holding tank on the construction site. You can reuse this water for construction purposes only. Even so, a water testing analyst needs to visit your work site to test the gray water for high levels of toxins. He or she may determine that you need to run your gray water through a purifying filter so that crew members do not accidentally become sick when they use the gray water to mix a new batch of concrete, mortar, or cement. 

Testing the Clean Water

A water pump tank truck is responsible for bringing clean water weekly. These tank trucks are lined in such a way as to maintain the healthy levels of minerals expected in water without the addition of rust, lime, or calcium. The water maintenance and testing analyst will also periodically test samples of your clean water to make sure it is safe for human consumption, since your crew will probably fill their water bottles from this truck.

If the water is not safe to drink, the analyst will alert you to this fact. You will need a freshwater tank truck brought to your location for human consumption. If the water is unfit to drink, but the analyst decides that it is still okay for construction purposes, then you can use it straight from the clean water tank or have it pumped into the gray water tank to use later.

Checking the Pumps

Portable water systems for construction use have their own pumps. These pumps must be maintained in order to keep the system operating at its best. The water testing and maintenance analyst/technician will check the pumps and system to make sure they are working correctly.