Do they really store drinking water? Are they used to store water for fighting fires? It seems impractical to store basically a drum of water hundreds of feet in the air.
In: Engineering
>Do they really store drinking water?
Yup.
>Are they used to store water for fighting fires?
Also yup since hydrants are connected to the drinking water supply. It’s easier to have one pipe system for everything.
The reason for the towers is easy. Water flows out of them naturally. If your town has a water tower and the power goes out, your water will still be there (and as just discussed, the **fire department’s** water will still be there).
The towers are also good because they smooth out water demand. Most water usage happens at two times: in the morning as people shower and get ready for work, and in the evening when more cooking and hygiene happens. To put some numbers on it, let’s say a town has a peak use of 60,000 gallons per hour at peak usage and uses 240,000 gallons per day. Using a water tower, the town can use a smaller, cheaper pump that runs continuously to fill the tower during off-hours and the tower drains during peak hours when the pump can’t keep up.
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