Gaming Guide

Once Human: How to Get Water Tank Location in East Blackfell Junction

Where Water Tanks spawn in Iron River, how to recycle one, and how to reverse engineer its recipe at base.

Where Water Tanks spawn in Iron River, how to recycle one, and how to reverse engineer its recipe at base.

Image: Starry Studio

The Water Tank is a white plastic storage facility in Once Human. It holds water-based items, and it connects to your base’s water setup through pipes. You can unlock its build recipe in two ways. The first is to pull a Water Tank out of the world and reverse engineer it. The second is to buy the memetic that teaches it. The world route costs no cipher, and East Blackfell Junction in Iron River has several tanks sitting close together.

Quick answer: Go to East Blackfell Junction in Iron River and use Facility Recycle (F) on a white Water Tank. Then reverse engineer it under Construction at the Tech Research Workbench.


Water Tank location: East Blackfell Junction in Iron River

East Blackfell Junction is a bus depot point of interest in the Iron River region. Open your world map, find Iron River, and look for the junction near coordinates 6104, -3207. Its exploration panel lists the usual crate and Worldstone objectives. You don’t need to finish any of them to take the tanks.

World Map navigation00:23World Map navigation
East Blackfell Junction on the Iron River map, with its level recommendation and exploration objectives. Shown at 00:23 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Starry Studio
DetailValue
RegionIron River
Point of interestEast Blackfell Junction
Recommended level25
Map coordinatesAbout 6104, -3207
Where tanks sitOutdoors, by the entrance, buses and fence
Tanks on siteAt least two or three

The tanks aren’t tied to one fixed spot. They’re spread around the outside of the depot. Check the entrance area first, then sweep the parking lot and the perimeter fence near the parked buses. They’re large white IBC-style containers, so they’re easy to spot against the asphalt.


How to recycle a Water Tank into your inventory

Walk up to a white Water Tank near the depot entrance. Get close enough that the object name “Water Tank” appears along with an interaction prompt.
Press F on the “F Facility Recycle” prompt. A blue beam takes the object apart and moves it straight into your inventory.
Finding and recycling first Water Tank00:39Finding and recycling first Water Tank
Facility Recycle in progress on a Water Tank near the entrance. Shown at 00:39 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Starry Studio
Check for the pickup notice. You should see “WATER TANK Obtained” and “Water Tank [1]+1” on screen.
If you want a spare, run through the bus parking lot to the fence line. Recycle the second tank there the same way.
Locating second Water Tank01:05Locating second Water Tank
A second Water Tank by the perimeter fence, ready to recycle. Shown at 01:05 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Starry Studio

One recycled tank is enough to unlock the recipe. Extra tanks are just spares.


Unlock the Water Tank recipe with Reverse Engineering

Having the tank in your bag doesn’t let you build more of them. To do that, you need to research it at your territory.

Go back to your territory and walk up to the Tech Research Workbench. Press F to open it.
Choose “Reverse Engineering”; the alternatives are Facility Recycle and Technological Inventions.
Switch to the “Construction” tab. The full row of tabs is Tools, Construction, Consumables, Materials, Weapons, Armor and Special.
Select Water Tank and press J to Join Research Queue. The research timer is short, at 00:00:15.
Tech Research Workbench and recipe unlock01:17Tech Research Workbench and recipe unlock
Water Tank selected under Reverse Engineering in the Construction tab, with the research queue button. Shown at 01:17 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Starry Studio

Once the timer runs out, the Water Tank entry shows “Recipe Unlocked.” The unlock is permanent. After that, you place Water Tanks from Build Mode under Facilities > Storage Facilities.


Alternative unlock: Water Storage memetic and build cost

If you’d rather skip the trip to Iron River, the Water Storage memetic teaches the same recipe. You’ll find it in the Cradle on the Logistics page.

  • Tier: second tier of the Logistics category (02 Empowerment; 02 Torch in The Way of Winter)
  • Cost: 3 cipher and 200 Energy Link
  • Extra requirement in Deviation: Survive, Capture, Preserve: Symbiosis level II
  • No level gate in Endless Dream, Evolutions Call, Manibus or Prismverse’s Clash

Whichever way you unlock it, each Water Tank you build costs the same materials.

MaterialAmount
Wood50
Adhesive5
Metal Scraps15

A finished tank has 32 slots for Boiled Water, Purified Water, Portable Mixed Fuel and Barreled Premium Fuel. It also accepts Water Pipes (V) from a Rainwater Collection System or a Small Refinery Facility. Those pipes rely on gravity, so the tank’s input has to sit below the outlet it’s collecting from. The exception is a powered Water Pump, which reverses the flow so the tank can sit higher.