I went to Mexico City, and noticed every house, has a black tank on all rooftops, what are those things??

Question

They are black objects with things inside that looks like a toilet pump, and every single house has one, I never saw a house without one.

Answer 1

We visited Monterrey, Mexico, last year.  Our tour guide told us the Mexican government does not provide water pure enough for drinking and that houses were required to have their own water purification system.  The ones we saw were located on the rooftops.  This probably is what you saw.

Answer 2

Sparks answer is the only correct one.  I lived in Mexico for almost nine years and under the house was a large cistern where water was stored in case the city water was not available.  There was a water pump at the cistern to pump the water to the rooftop tank and the water was fed to the house by gravity.  The toilet pump looking device is to make sure the roof tank does not overflow.

Individual homes do not have water purification systems (they are too expensive and the pipes in most homes are very old and mainly made of lead).  Almost no one in Mexico drinks city water.

Answer 3

They are water tanks.  In many cities the water supply is turned off for certain hrs. of the day or certain days of the week (usually different hrs. or days in different neighborhoods), and these tanks hold water to supply the houses during these times.  It is not rainwater, the tanks are not open on top.  They have nothing to do with water purification.  Also, sometimes the water supply is off for a day or two when they are working on pipes, and the tanks make sure people have water during that time.  i suppose diff. locations could be sdifferent, but that's how they are in Veracruz.  See website below for a complete, easy to red explanation.

Answer 4

That is the water tank, called a "tinaco" in Mexico. For some reason cities, neighborhoods and private well pumps ( which are illegal shhhhh) do not provide enough constant water pressure for a USA type of water delivery. Therefore all Mexican buildings have the tanks you saw on the roof.

Most apartment buildings, commercial and industrial buildings have an underground storage tank also for the very likely eventuality that there is absolutely no water arriving from the municipal source. Some, but not all, houses have these too. The underground storage facility is called a "CISTERNA."

Sparks, Tom, and Charlie are not COMPLETELY wrong, but they are not completely right either.

mystery solved.

Answer 5

rain tanks. I first saw hat in Trinidad. I thought everyone had water like we did

Answer 6

I cannot speak for other places in Mexico, but here in Mazatlan, the tinacos work the way Sparks and Tom describe.

Answer 7

Omg  your question makes me laugh, I really do not how to explain those things, but i can tell you their names, " tinacos",

Answer 8

~That's where they distill the tequila.

Answer 9

They are water reservoirs.

In many parts of Mexico, there is no all day water service, so water tanks are commonly used to cover the low and no water pressure times of day.  They are on the top of the house to give some gravity pressure to the water.

Answer 10

I agree with Charlie, the others know nothing

Answer 11

Everybody is wrong.  The tanks on top of the house (Tinaco) are to pressurize your house system (by gravity).  Most city water systems don't have enough pressure to reach the second or third floors.  Holding tanks for water (usually much larger) are in the ground  and called an Aljibe.

Water is pumped from the Aljibe or a well to the Tinaco ... and is pressurized by gravity from there

Answer 12

sparks_mex and Charlie  are  right, i'm mexican and i live in Mexico City, that tanks are called Tinacos, with them you can have good enougth watter all the time using your regular plumbing without any problem.

Answer 13

In Queretaro they are water tanks that are refilled weekly.

Answer 14

Rain water tanks. Public water supply in most of Mexico is unreliable and expensive.

Answer 15

charlie has the right answer.I'm from Mex.

Answer 16

Nobody is wrong in here...its just that one explains it better then others...but more or less everybody is right! Their tinacos....water gets pumped into those tanks...etc...etc! I dont really want to get into it...sorry...i think im not gonna get the 10 points...right? jajajjajaj! But yeah their tinacos

Answer 17

http://www.viajesabordo.com/fotos_mx/rot...

Yup this are water tanks and no they don't hold rain water ( as you can see they aren't open), they hold clear water pumped from the system.

Hey not all the houses have Aljibes, and the pressure thing isn't quite right, yeah it helps but how do you pump the water up 3 floors if they don't have pressure? of course if you have an aljibe and a pump you can but then you don't need the tinaco to give pressure to the water, the pump itself should work, and if you really need pressure, ( like if you want a jacuzzi or a nice fountain) you can install an hydroneumatic pump and that's it.

Answer 18

Both Charlie and Sparks are right. Most houses in Mexico don't have "algibes", only expensive construction does, but almost all have "tinacos", for storing water and for gravity pressure.

Answer 19

I also agree with Charlie :)

lived in Mexico for 1 month...could be frustrating...since you have to be careful with the water usage.