Secondary water system

[RJ]

I live on the outskirts of a town and am hooked up to city water although I don't live in the town. When my town resident neighbor turns on his lawn sprinkler (installed system) my water pressure drops to zero and I have a six or seven hour wait ahead of me for service to resume. I've asked him to set his timer from maybe midnight to six a.m. or so but he can't/won't accommodate that request. I want to put a couple hundred gallon tank in the basement and draw my water from that when the system is down. What I think I want (?) is an electrically controlled valve I can switch from main input to secondary input system from a central location upstairs. I'm kind of thinking the pressure switch on the secondary system pump will take care of turning the pump on and off when I'm using it. This is a Rube Goldberg scheme of mine so be kind. Rural water will kick hell out of 5k plus so I'm not real keen on that right now. BTW I live alone so I plan on using the secondary for just showers/toilet and the like. I keep a couple jugs of potable water for consumption. TIA, RJ

[RJ]

Guess I should of said what I wanted from the group :-) I'm looking for recommendations on the electrically controlled switching valve and the secondary pump. Two story house so about 25' of lift should be enough. 1 full and 1 1/2 bath. Thanks again, RJ

[Eric G.]

RJ wrote in news:86mdnelrtJfA4wTZnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

RJ, just so you are aware of it, if you are getting water from a city source, they are required to meet the absolute minimum requirements of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Your state may be even stricter, depending on where you live, but the Federal legislation states that a minimum water pressure of 20 PSI is required at all taps on the system except in the case of fire or other water emergency. Your neighbor watering his lawn or garden is not an emergency. You should call them immediately to complain about this issue, and then call your local health department/authority to register the complaint with them as well.

By law, THEY should be the ones to spend the money to fix this problem. And they should act immediately to at least enact some temporary fix if a permanent one is expensive or time-consuming. They can actually issue a cease and desist order to your neighbor as an interim measure until the problem is fixed.

I am actually in a large city in NJ, but I am at the end of the line from the water company. I have a very similar problem to you, but only in the summer months. Right now I have them jumping through hoops to repair this problem. And I am not letting up until my water is safe to drink again.

Good luck with your issue and let us know how you make out.

Eric