Water Towers

ELI5 - What exactly does a water tower do?

Think of a water tower like a battery, but for water pressure. By lifting water up high, you let gravity do the work of keeping pressure steady. This lets you run pumps only when it's convenient or cheap, filling the tank so it can feed the town later. Nowadays, we have "smart" pumps that can maintain pressure without a tower, but the old-school gravity method is still very common. In hilly areas, they just put a big tank on a hill rather than building a tower, since the elevation is already there.

By Alex 1 day ago