Also, where is it stored? If it’s stored way under your house, how can it come out of the tap in 1/2 a second? If it’s stored in a tank under the house like I imagine, should you let the tap run a moment before filling up a glass to avoid the water becoming stale? If not, why not?
Yours,
A very confused water fan
In: 9
Water is already in all the pipes under moderate pressure, when you open the tap, water gets out from the pipe directly behind it
Ultimately all the pipes connect to a water tower where water is stored for the town, it’s at hight so water just has to flow downhill without the need for pumps
Pretty much all water pipes are “wet”, they have water in them, going back all the way to the source. The problem is they can freeze, causing damage, like what happened in Texas a few years ago.
Some water systems (mainly fire hydrants and sprinklers in cold areas) are “dry” meaning that water is not in them.
This prevents them from freezing, but it causes a delay in water.
If you live in the US, you can easily tell which hydrant is which.
Google can give you a better example (like pictures) but:
Wet barrel hydrants (warmer environments) are flat on top, and they have a discharge on one side, and a valve on the other, so they always have an even number of things on them, typically 6.
Dry barrel (colder environment) have a valve on top to turn on the water, and they have discharges on the side, typically 3. Most cartoon hydrant are dry barrel.
It mostly sits in your pipes, waiting for a release of pressure in a specific tap to flow in that direction. It’s unlikely the water needs to travel very far, although it depends on the plumbing. Especially with older plumbing, it may often take a second or two to reach the faucet from after the turn of the knob.
As for water being stale, this actually is a concern, or rather water-borne pathogens having time to reproduce due to sitting around. However, potable water plumbing all has positive pressure so any leaks are forced out, preventing anything from getting into the pipe ideally, and that potable water was just cleaned by the city, so there isn’t any problem. Except when there is a problem of course!
You don’t really need to wait any length of time, but if it makes you feel better psychologically it won’t hurt unless you leave it running for much longer than a moment and waste water.
The water in your pipes is like people standing in line for a bus. When the bus doors open (turn the water on), people flow through the line into the bus, and more people enter the back of the line from the water tower. Once the bus doors close (turn the water off), people wait in the line (pipes) until the door opens again. That way, there’s always water (people) ready to go at the bus’s doorstop.
TLDR: the water waits at the tap so you don’t have to.
I want to add that just like there is water already in the pipes, so are there electrons already in your electricity cables. Electrons don’t travel very fast in the cable, but they’re also just waiting to get released.
Imagine you had a pitcher or teapot that was already tilted to pour, with a stopper in the spout. Opening the tap is like removing the stopped, and your town has a water tower that is like the body of the teapot, and the spout is kinda twisty but there’s a direct connection between the easter tower and your sink’s tap.
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