By: Mike Bromley – President of Water Wise, Inc.
>Read August Newsletter:

Collecting rain water is a time honored method of storing water for later use.  The most amazing water collection system I’ve ever seen is at Masada around the Dead Sea in Israel.  King Herod built Masada as a fortress retreat on top of a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea.  It’s a desert so they receive as little as 0.10 inch of rain a year.  He built water collection aqueducts around the mountain that funneled all the water to a cavern carved into the solid rock.  This cistern kept the water cool and reduced evaporation.

The same cistern system is used all over the world in homes, businesses, and industry.  Keeping the water in the cistern fresh and free from organic contamination buildup has been a chronic problem for centuries as it sits at room temperature for long periods of time.

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester NY, has a rainwater collection system on the Galisano Institute for Sustainability which was built in 2013. The water was originally treated with high doses of ozone that caused both odor and corrosion issues. The cistern holds approximately 1500 gallons of water that is used to flush toilets.  The system became fouled with organic contamination that stained the toilet bowls, fouled pumps, and produced foul smells in the building.  Mike Bromley from Water Wise of America, was asked to consult on possible solutions and installed ProMoss™ on the cistern.

They used a CC-140 and a pump to remove water from the cistern, expose it to the ProMoss™ and return the treated water to the cistern.

The cistern water became clear, the foul smell went away, staining of the toilet bowls stopped.  They then removed the ProMoss™ for five months to determine if the problems would return.  They reordered the ProMoss™ and are starting the system up again.