FAQ

    WE  RETHINK  WATER

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The TSWS Complete End-2-End System is designed as a fully automated plug ‘n play Rainwater Capture System.

Your Tank is a ThinLine^tm 6000 L (1500 gallons) corrugated Stainless Steel Water Tank. Rain is captured from your roof through your downspout. It is first processed through a Diverter Unit, designed to pass the first 5 gallons of rain to the ground. It diverts that water to your downspout as it normally would.  The 6th gallon of rain is free of all large debris and sediment.  This water is then routed into your storage tank.

However, with increasing pharmaceuticals being dumped into drains, these compounds are finding their way into potable water supplies. Increasing use of atrazine,  an herbicide, and industrial chemicals such as perchlorate and nitrates from fertilizers and manufacturing centers are  finding their way into our drinking supplies at alarming rates. These compounds are not removed in the filtering stages  of municipal  water processing. The rcs unit from TSWS includes a 3-stage filtration unit with UV treatment as the third stage.  The 3-stage system eliminates most of the compounds known today to adversely affect endocrine health.

HOW DOES IT WORK SMART?

Our Fully Automated System polls the atmosphere on the hour. When your onboard weather controller is confidant of rain, it begins to turn off water directed normally into your tank and instead redirects municipal water directly into your filtration housing once the tank level has been emptied (usually three to four days).  Your water supply is never interrupted. Your empty tank now is able to fill with rain. Once full, the unit automatically pulls this water into the 3-stage filtration unit and the municipal water is redirected to fill the tank.  As the tank of rainwater is depleted, the municipal supply takes over as before.  In this way, the TSWS system always ensures a near-full tank should you ever need an emergency supply of approximately 1,500 gallons. In that unlikely event, instead of drinking your water, you can pull it out of our standard American fire hose valve and you have your own fire hydrant good for at least 20 minutes at a rate of 50 gallons per minute.

Your heads-up display (smartphone et al.) will automatically alert you to  tank water level, chance of rain, total rainwater captured to date and other reports.  Consider that a San Francisco Bay annual rain average of 22 inches can provide about 12 tanks of water over a rainy season, assuming our smaller slimline tank sizes (1322 gallon or 1,500 gallon).  Since the typical family may use 120 tanks per year, this could add up to about 10% of your annual water bill.  You have effectively put back into the aquifers about 10 % of your annual water use or about 0.05 acre feet (AF).  Typical families use about 0.5 AF of water per year.  This is serious conservation. So it is seriously smart.

WHY DO I NEED TO DIVERT THE FIRST 5 GALLONS?

Diverting the first gallons to the gutter flushes all of the dirt and leaves that accumulate over time. The first raindrops fill a slowly rising tube inside the clean rain diverter you see at the right. The tube is designed to time the water filling your drainpipe until approximately five gallons have been flushed down your spout. None of this water – the first flush – ever goes into your rainwater tank. You can see how one works   in the animation here.

About the sixth gallon is diverted to your inlet located at the top of your Rainwater Tank, since the first five were diverted to your drainage runoff. Unless your roof area has an unusually high amount of leaves and canopy cover, usually the rainwater by this time is at better than 90% pure.

However, your TSWS system has a UV filtration unit which is the third stage of filtering.  This unit detects tannin levels and adjusts  automatically the intensity of the UV as the rainwater passes through it before this water enters your home. In this way, your water is guaranteed to exceed current American potability standards for drinkable water.  At your tap your water is likely far cleaner than it was either on your roof as rainwater, or as water from your well or municipal cold water supply line.

CAN I DRINK THE SIXTH GALLON OF RAINWATER?

You can.

The sixth gallon is diverted to your inlet located at the top of your Rainwater Tank. The first five are diverted to your drainage runoff. Unless your roof area has an unusually high amount of leaves and canopy cover, usually the rainwater by this time is at better than 90% pure (potable water standards are met). 

However, your TSWS system has a UV filtration unit which detects tannin levels and adjusts the intensity of the UV as the rainwater passes through it. In this way, your water is guaranteed to exceed current potability standards for drinkable water.

WHY DO I NEED PRE-FILTRATION OF MY RAINWATER?

Your Rainwater diverter eliminates large particulate while the sediment filters remove suspended particles down to below 10 microns before the water is filtered to below 1 micron and finaly UV treated. As microbes can potentially be shielded by suspended particles (turbidity) in the water supply, it is necessary to filter the water to remove these suspended particles. High quality graded density filter cartridges with nominal micron rating of at least 5, 1 and 0.1 microns are contained in your TSWS system. Your unit is capable of filtering to 0.1 micron.

CAN I STORE WATER JUST FOR DRINKING ONLY IN YOUR SYSTEM?

A  TSWS   ThinLine Tank^tm   stores 1,500 gallons (6000 L) of drinking water.  This system allows you to draw water for cooking and drinking purposes only through a dedicated supply through your municipal cold water line.  Assuming 5 gallons per day per 4-person househol,d this provides about 260 days of water or about   8.5 months of potable water. TSWS recommends that you purchase the RCS101cb filtration unit for water storage for long term drinking use.

Our three-stage filtration system insures that drinking water on demand is potable water free of all organic pathogens, most significant organic compounds  and many of the inorganic metal contaminants that can arrive at your tap.

WHY SHOULD I FILTER THE WATER SUPPLY INTO MY HOME? 

 Municipalities will disinfect water supplies typically using chlorine or ozone.  However due in part to aging infrastructure which results in over 785 main water breaks every day in the USA, and due to increasing effluents which are reaching our aquifers and lakes which supply our drinking water, a growing class of compounds collectively known as “Disinfection By Products” (DBPs) arrive at the taps inside your home.

Increases in certain cancers among both men and women are directly attributable to even very small, almost undetectable traces of compounds found in today’s water. Even trace levels at parts per billion (ppb), well below acceptable levels, have been found to contribute to the presence of estrogen – imitating molecules which then affect the body’s normal hormone levels.  This “estrogen-mimicry” is prevalent in tap water with phthalates and BPA.  In extremely low doses it is linked to lower birthweights, and lowered fertility among adult human males.

A simple expedient is a system to disinfect all of the water entering your home, not merely disinfect the five gallons per day that a family of four may drink from one sink in your kitchen.  Remember, Clean Water – Healthy Bodies applies over long time periods in the same way that vigorous exercise takes time before its health benefits are seen.

HOW IS MY UNDER-SINK RO SYSTEM DIFFERENT FROM THE TSWS SYSTEM?

TSWS offers three systems.  The first ultrafiltrates all water into your home.  The system mounts easily alongside a wall of your home on stanchions.  All the water into your home, from a well or from your municipal treatment plant is processed by the RCS.  There is no tank storage of potable water. The advantage is that all of the water to your showers and all of your sinks approaches the purity of RO – treated water but you are not wasting the 6000 – 7000 gallons per year of water.  This lost water from your tap is disposed of while creating RO – filtered water.

Consider that while your RO system removes all the dissolved solids from your water supply, it does nothing for shower water. Studies find that people absorb 100 times more chlorine in a ten-minute shower than they do from drinking a gallon (eight 17-oz water bottles) of the same chlorinated water.

 A second system provides a Stainless Steel Corrugated 6000 L (1500 gal) or 7000 L (1851 gal) ThinLine^tm water tank for your home.

A third system is an End-2-End rainwater system that catches, stores water, then treats and delivers ultra-filtrated water on demand into a home or office building.  This system can be designed with TSWS Smart Tank^tm  Technology maintaining a near-full tank year – round. Please see our photo gallery here for ideas how you may install a system.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THREE DAYS AND MY TANK IS EMPTY?

When taps in the home are opened, the water is drawn from your Rain Water Tank. When a tap in the home is opened, but it has not been raining, your TSWS  System has automatically filled your tank with water from your municipal water system or well.

This is because we want your tank to remain nearly full 365 days a year (on average 78 percent full per day, every day). In this way you always have an emergency supply of water should you need it.  It would do you no good to have used all your water and suddenly need an emergency supply of standby water but have an empty tank.

This is the TSWS solution.  Keep it full. Always.

The  “Smart Tank” option from TSWS, is a fully automated system which keeps your Slimline Storage tank “near full” year round. In the event of emergencies, your tank’s gate valves are sized to meet California NH Fire Code standards so either you or your local fire services can quickly access and pump this water.  A full tank provides 24 to 40 minutes when pumped at 50 gal/minute or 30 gal/minute, respectively.

Because your tank is filled every three or four days, there is a large demand on your pump.  It is a stainless steel variable speed pump regulated to respond to the pressure drops sensed inside your home.  Large  sudden demand for water requests the pump to respond quickly at while small demand, such as opening a single tap within your home or office, requests the pump to deliver water at a much slower flow rate.  Your pump has built-in automatic pump controller to extend the life of your pump.

Remember, all water regardless of its source is completely filtered for biological contaminants (UV) and large and small sediment and dissolved solids down to sub micron scale.

DOES THE TANK WATER GO DIRECTLY INTO MY HOME COLD WATER SUPPLY LINE?

The beauty of your TSWS System is that even the municipal or well water is filtered and treated by your RCS unit. You can be assured that any contaminants that find their way into your regular water supply from corroded or broken and leaking pipes is filtered and is safe to drink regardless of whether it is rain water or not. All of your water needs are filtered quickly, silently  before reaching any tap in your home.

It is the TSWS mission to combine high flow rates into your home with even better sub micron filtering as well as conditioning  your water for good taste.  Existing ion exchange units process drinking water  to insure that Calcium, Magnesium and Sodium are in proper amounts to make it tasteful, while other systems  remove all dissolved harmful contaminants down to 0.0001 micron  size (viruses) but at very slow flow rates due the small size of the filtering.

The challenge is to achieve reasonably high flow rates while insuring water free of contaminants known to challenge and compromise the human endocrine system through “hormone mimicry”.  At TSWS, we are combining technologies to provide you the best of all possible water worlds.

WHY SHOULD I USE ONLY STAINLESS STEEL IN MY WATER STORAGE SYSTEM?

The complete TSWS System was designed with superior water

quality as our objective. Polymers such as BPA (a chemical monomer used to create plastics, and resins)  leaches into water exposed to heat or long duration, and is a well known endocrine disruptor and of course found in all poly tanks, plastic water bottles, etc.

Many Steel tanks designed for water storage are sprayed with Aquaplate^tm powder coatings.   Aquaplate^tm   and other sources of BPA are ruled out at TSWS in the manufacture of our rainwater tanks.   The purest substance your drinking water should touch is the steel interior of your thermos,”¦ or glass without other powder coatings.

 The TSWS rainwater tank has novel rib-strengthening without traditional welds and epoxy sealants.  Our Australian manufacturer has perfected this seamless “spot weld” technique applied to the novel SlimLine Corrugated Water Tank shape.  Healthy bodies begin with clean water. While a full water tank will be consumed by a typical family in 3 or 4 days,  even prolonged water storage sitting in pure stainless steel is as healthy as we can make it.

1. A  Stainless Steel Rain Water Tank has a service life well in excess of 40 years
2. The reputation of Stainless Steel as a strong, durable and hygienic material is unsurpassed ““ in fact it is mandatory for food and pharmaceutical processing plants, hospitals and other sterile areas. You will have peace of mind when it comes to the quality of your water.
3. Stainless steel water tanks are fully recyclable
4. They look  great in their “Thin profile” shape, fitting those  “hard-to-fit” places.
5. With an extended service life and reduced maintenance costs, they in fact COST LESS than other comparative water storage tanks over the working life of the tank.
6. Steel tanks do not bulge or stretch when full. The strength of steel means the tanks comfortably hold the large forces generated by 5 tons of water. Steel tanks have been around for more than 100 years so the structural long life is a proven fact.
7. The ThinLine Tanks^tm are less bulky than round ones for the same volume, and having a smaller footprint, easily can snuggle against a sidewall of a building.
8. Steel is recyclable as well.  Next to glass, this surface is the safest and purest surface for any of your potable water needs. Of course all water within your steel tank is processed in our 3 stage filtration before it ever reaches the tap.

CAN MY TSWS RCS SYSTEM COLOR MATCH MY SIDING?

We will help you color-match your 1322 gallon (5000 L) tank to your home in order to make the most attractive addition to your property. All 304 Stainless corrugated steel is primed on the assembly line so the exterior is “paint-ready”. In some cases it is likely the addition of a TSWS System will add home value of a few percent. In other cases, it may be that the TSWS system impacts favorably the rates of your fire insurance.

Your TSWS storage tank (min 1500 gallons) meets minimum fire code standards for quick access in any fire emergency  by local emergency services as well as by manual pump means.

It is kept full every day of the year, whether or not it is raining.

 The addition of an attractive water storage solution to your home complements any fire sprinkler system you may have, or provides a quick fire solution using a small water pump such as the Mercedes Wickman 100.

 HOW WILL  I  KNOW THAT MY WATER IS FREE OF ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS? 

At TSWS, we install approved  NSF Standard 55 Class A UV to treat all of your water at high flow demands. Your unit has Underwriting Laboratory, SA and CE certifications.

The compounds which emulate the hormone estrogen  comprise a family of endocrine- influencing chemicals which include the plasticizers but also metals such as Arsenic.  They are particularly affective at very low dose levels. These chemicals “disrupt”,or disturb the pathways for  hormones in the body upsetting the normal function of the thyroid, adrenal gland, testes, ovaries,  pituitary and even the kidneys.

The filtering accomplished by the TSWS RCS unit attempts to reach as many of these compounds as possible.  We are striving to improve the detection of very low concentrations of these molecules and removing them from the water that enters your home while providing every tap in your home the water pressure and flow that you are accustomed to. You can learn more here or here and on other pages of this site.  How will you know that your tap water is endocrine-safe?  TSWS is developing a 3 TEST Water Pen which is discussed here. Indicators such as these can give you the best indication that plasticizer compounds are at or below the 1 and 10 parts per billion (ppb) levels which are considered safe levels by EPA and International Research programs as of this writing.

WHY SHOULD I UV-TREAT WATER WHICH WAS DISINFECTED AT MY WATER UTILITY?

The UV in your system has a “germicidal” wavelength which does not kill pathogens such as Cryptosporidia or legionella but de-activates its DNA so that the organism cannot reproduce.  Contaminated water causes diarrhea and death from the parasites reproducing in the intestine.  The UV prevents this from happening.  The World Health Organization, and UNICEF continue to report year after year from 4 to 6 young children or babies dying each minute from contaminated water – a statistic that could be turned around with appropriate UV treatment of their drinking water.

 The UV unit you own controls the water flow insuring a minimal forty millijoules (mj) of UV energy per square centimeter of water. EPA requirements vary from 10 – 30 mj? cm^2.  The “turbidity” or cloudiness of your water is compensated for by detection of the UV dosage and your unit is designed to “slow down” the water flow in order to eliminate the possibility of any “shadowing” affect.  This affect is where a parasite remains “hidden” by the water’s turbidity and hence escapes a sufficient UV dosage.

UV is designed to be of sufficient intensity to surpass NSF/ANSI standards for potable water.  The UV energy heats the parasite DNA rendering it useless to reproduce itself, the same way your Microwave energy heats the water molecules within your food molecules thereby cooking it for you.  The UV intensity  from the Mercury source within your unit creates a strong “germicidal” light that effectively “resonates” with the cellular DNA.  You may have done the same thing when you “sing in the shower” and find a certain pitch (frequency) that makes the sound ring especially strongly.  Your sound waves “ring” or resonate the crystal structure within your tiles.

In the same way the UV “rings” the DNA of Giardia, Coliform, E Coli, Legionella and other pathogenic microorganisms.

Rain as it falls to the ground filters the air and, unfortunately, brings down with it organic molecules that include acidic compounds.  While your unit does not include Limestone to filter out excess acidity in the rain (a problem in Hawaii for instance from Mt. Kilauea) your RCS unit will “de-activate” any and all biologically active compounds that are in this rain.  Biological organisms in your water are rendered harmless by disrupting the DNA within these organisms.

However, removing dissolved solids that may be in the rain is difficult to do. While your water meets accepted potability standards, making the water safer requires removing dissolved solids and additional filtering. We can remove these kinds of compounds, such as Arsenic, Perchlorate, Atrazine with additional filtering.

WHAT SETS CWS APART FROM OTHER RAIN HARVESTING AND RAIN WATER COMPANIES? 

SIMPLE:

Our Mission is to help reduce routes to cancer and non-cancerous disease by providing pure, clean, safe water to the home, as well as providing a fire-hydrant water supply for unforeseen emergency use. The TSWS system is your personal water utility.

• No wasted water down the drain. Seven thousand gallons per year are wasted in typical Reverse Osmosis (RO) units for obtaining ultra-filtrated water. Twenty six households equipped with RO waste one half Acre Foot (AF) of water per year which is equal to one family’s entire annual water demand (about 164,000 gallons or 447 gallons/day-household).
• All of your water is treated.  So showers are chemical – free, as well as endocrine – safe in most cases. The filtration provided by TSWS can remove nitrates, as do RO units, but less efficiently Stay abreast of developments at TSWS for updates on our filtration units’ ability to remove nitrates.

• Rain Harvesting  saves about 10-12% of your annual water demand in an  18″ – 23″ rainfall area such as the San Francisco Bay area. A Smart Tank will capture about twelve tanks of rain (about 16,000 gallons) which is made potable in our 3 stage filtration system.
• All Systems are fire-ready with Kochek standard fire valves on each tank. Manual fire pumps or local fire services are able to draw this water should emergencies arise.
• Systems process all water, rain, well or main for known endocrine – disrupting compounds that compromise human  health creating molecular pathways to disease. Our systems are designed to provide a water quality exceeding  NSF standard. the final processing stage is to remove any biological contaminants that entered the water stream below the chlorination process at the treatment plant.

Today’s water treatment plants are typically aware of low dose levels and pervasive nature of rising and detectable levels of pharmaceutical drugs, herbicide and pesticide residues and of by-product compounds from chlorination and fluoridation of our drinking supplies.  Only decades ago these contaminants were not even known much less detectable or looked for.  But expense to remove these contaminants is prohibitive.  “Potable” standards are set at levels shown to keep most people from getting ill.  Long term effects are not seen by definition, until the “long term” has run its course leading to morbidity and in some cases death (i.e. bladder and colon cancer in men).

To learn about endocrine disruptors go here.  To learn about endocrine disruptors in our drinking water and the conversation being held at a national level go  here.

WILL UV AFFECT THE TASTE OF WATER INTO MY HOME?

Does the food from your microwave have any noticeable change in taste?  It shouldn’t  as the microwaves provide energy for water molecules to super-heat thereby cooking your food.  In the same way, ultra violet energy kills virtually all biological contamination in your water (to greater than 99.9 percent) and is just germicidal energy leaving the water molecules totally unaffected.

In both cases,  the Microwaves (to cook food) or the UV (to cook germs) are both energies at the speed of light but with different frequencies.  Both provide energy to “cook” something. The heat they make in the latter case “cooks” the viral DNA, thereby destroying the germs which otherwise will most likely make you sick.  Think of the heat you generate between your palms when you run them together.

If you do this slowly, the heat is not so great,… these are the microwaves.  Run your hands together very fast and you definitely feel heat now.. these are the Ultra Violet  waves (UV).   One other thing,…as UV purification is a physical process, it  changes neither the taste, temperature  or odor of the water. It simply provides safe, reliable purification by destroying the DNA of living organisms.

WHAT DOES THE SMART TANK DO FOR ME?

Your TSWS System does three things because it is smart.

First, it reduces your fresh water demand automatically leaving more water available to the environment. Your TSWS System reduces your fresh water annual needs by at least ten percent and by as much as thirteen percent.1 How much you save depends on your annual rainfall totals and the size of your storage.  TSWS typical tank size is 6000L (1500 gallons). In the absence of rain your tank remains full from your mains water. Your Tank sensors know when to fill and not to fill your tank with mains water.  In this way you have a near-full water tank year round.

Second, your system provides you an emergency water supply for drought or fire suppression.  Your local fire company hooks directly to your Smart Tankâ„¢ gate valve giving them 25 minutes of water at 50 gpm or giving you  forty minutes of water at 30 gpm in such emergencies even if only ninety percent full.

Third, the TSWS RainCatcher provides you clean water for healthy bodies.  Every system is designed to disinfect all the water into your home to better than bottled water purity.   Our patented system disinfects and filters  all water into your home or office building. Detail can be found here.

WHAT IS MY WARRANTY LIKE?

We pass-through all appliance warranties.  All vendor appliances are UL rated and guaranteed by the expressed written terms of their respective warranties. We however warranty all workmanship and complete operation of the system under a separate TSWS warranty for parts and labor for 1 year. A limited maintenance contract may be purchased thereafter for a fee commensurate with prevailing rates in your area.