Last Xmas we were in Istanbul. There they have excavated out a Roman water cistern. Apparently the locals living above it had used it for 100s of years as a source of fish by drilling holes in their house floors and lowering down fishing lines. But the authorities had forgotten it was there. Its about 2,000 years old.
They now use it for occassional folklorique music and dance concerts. The acoustics are amazing.
The depth of water is now only about 3 feet, but there are still fish in it.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_Cistern
There are other Roman cisterns being excavated out and restored for tourists in Istanbul and areas around.
Chris B.
--- On Thu, 19/11/09, stephen buckley <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From: stephen buckley <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Fish in wells and cisterns
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Thursday, 19 November, 2009, 9:07
>
> Some years ago, there was
> correspondence about putting fish in wells or cisterns that
> provided domestic water supplies, in order to keep the water
> sweet. The practice seems to have continued into the 20th
> century, at least, is on record in Roman times, and may
> relate to early references to salmon and trout in
> wells/springs.
>
> There's a BBC page at the
> moment with pictures of Droitwich's long-wave
> transmitter building when it was first put up in the 1930s.
> The valves for the transmitter needed to be cooled by large
> amounts of water - 300,000 gallons of it. The tanks that
> held the water were provided with goldfish, the purpose of
> which was to stop algae growth. Plus ca change.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/herefordandworcester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8366000/8366520.stm
>
> Christine Buckley
>
>
>
>
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