Storing drinking water in concrete tanks is very common. In Sri Lanka this has been the practice for the last 50 years or more. Almost all elevated tanks for storing treated water for distribution, are made of reinforced concrete.

 Wimoo, thank you. So I see it's possible. But I also would like to know, why it's not so common in germany, because that's my research field. I've heard of storing wine in concrete tanks but water it seems it's not so often stored in concrete. What could be a reason?

Construction of elevated concrete tanks for water storage is a complex process; while the quantity of concrete used is relatively small, the quality has to be very high. It has to be water tight. Besides these are sometimes architectural features in towns. Steel work on the other hand can be partly done in a work shop. Corrosion prevention is an issue but with the newly developed surface coatings it is easier. So in countries where steel is manufactured, the construction material has to be decided after several considerations.

In Slovakia and Czech Republic are very popular elevated concrete tanks also. Drinking water is stored in those tanks. Reason why are used in Germany tanks from PVC or other materials can be found, when you take a look to composition of waters.

To your question: reinforced concrete tanks for storage of drinking water is cheap only at first. During their explotation requires substantial expenditures for inspection, repair and elimination of leaks, many times exceeding their cost. If you are interested, in addition to info from John I can say about emerging hydrochemical, hydrophysical and ecological processes.

Regards, Aleksandr

Thank you Aleksandr, John, Lukáš and Wimoo. This are very helpful informations. But can you give me some sources, something that I can cite? At the moment I can`t see why the maintenance costs for concrete tanks should be higher than for steel tanks. Do they have to be more often controlled or is it more expensive to controll them?