Flying into any airport in Mexico, you see them dotting the landscape below — Mexico’s ubiquitous rooftop tinacos.
View through a Casita Colibrí window of the tinaco across the street.
For those of you who are dying to know how the water system here at Casita Colibrí works: An underground pipe regularly (or, not so regularly, as the case may be) delivers municipal water into an aljibe (cistern) — a storage tank under our courtyard and driveway. A bomba (pump) is run daily for an hour (más o menos) to bring water from the aljibe up into the tinacos sitting on the various rooftops of the apartment complex. When we turn on our tap, water flows (or dribbles) from our faucets courtesy of gravity.
By the way, this is non potable water. Drinking water is a different story involving garrafones (5-gallon water jugs).
Mexican Peso Converter
View From Casita Colibrí 
You even make tinacos interesting 🙂
FYI…Our non-potable water costs approx. 52 pesos per month.