Today Ryan Learned How Water Towers Work

Call me the Bus Driver, because I'm takin' you to school.

My son and I were on our way to baseball practice the other day when we drove past the water tower in Newburgh across the street from Castle North Middle School (pictured above, left). Like most kids (and his father), he has an inquisitive mind and asked me what a water tower does. Instead of filling his mind with some sort of lie like, "that's where they keep kids who don't listen to their parents", or "that's where all our pee goes", I admitted that I didn't know.

Thanks to this wonderful thing we call the internet, a quick search of "how do water towers work" led me to the info I needed.

According to the appropriately titled, How Stuff Works website, despite the size of these contraptions, their mechanics are pretty simple. Essentially they help ensure a certain area of town has the water pressure they need for every day functions like bathing, washing clothes and dishes, etc.

Depending on their size, some towers can hold 50 times the amount of water held by an in-ground swimming pool (anywhere between 20,000 - 30,000 gallons), meaning some towers can be filled with one million gallons of water at a given time. They are filled by a nearby pump that pushes the water in the pipes underground from the local treatment plant, and are typically designed to hold about a days worth of water for the community they serve in the event of a pump failure.

They also act as somewhat of a regulator and backup system for the service area's water usage. During peak usage, like early morning when people are getting ready for work or school, they help ensure enough water is available by feeding what's stored into the main line. That typically gets replenished during down time such as the overnight hours when usage is at its lowest.

Big city's like New York, who have several buildings that are hundreds of feet tall use miniature towers on the roofs to help maintain pressure for the people working or living there because those at the top of those buildings are so far away from the water source hidden under the street below.

Now that you know how water towers work, amaze your friends and family by sharing this tidbit of useless trivia. Knowledge is power!

[Source: How Stuff Works.com]