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
They store drinking water while also providing pressure to push water out of faucets with force. That’s the reason they’re up in the air like that.
>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.
They arent for either really. They’re used to help pressurize the water system. Pumps fill them up with water, they’re elevated, and that means if some section of the pipes loses a lot of water it drains down from the water towers and overall pressure is maintained.
The point is that if you lose power to the town they can still supply water via gravity. No need for pumps
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