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Clean water is pumped up into the tower. Enough is stored to run an entire city for the day.

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As infrastructure goes, water towers are pretty picturesque. Some people turn them into houses once the city no longer needs them. The designers at Pop Chart Lab have created a visual ode to New York City's water tower taxonomy. But why exactly do we need to store our water hundreds of feet above the city?

Most water towers are pretty simple machines. Clean, treated water is pumped up into the tower, where it's stored in a large tank that might hold a million or so gallons-enough water to run that particular city for a day. When the region needs water, water pumps utilize the pull of gravity to provide high water pressure. Because they work with gravity, they have to be taller than the buildings they're providing water to in order to reach the highest floors. Each additional foot of height in a water tower increases water pressure by .43 pounds per square inch.

Here's a basic diagram of what a water tower system looks like:

Keeping water high off the ground plays another important role for a city infrastructure. It allows regions to use smaller water pumps. In general, water demand for a city fluctuates throughout the day. Lots of folks are taking showers before work and school, but fewer people are running a lot of water at 3 a.m. Without a water tower, the municipality would have to buy a water pump big and powerful enough to keep up with peak demand in the mornings, which would then largely go to waste during less busy parts of the day for water usage (plus incur extra costs). Instead, municipalities can buy a pump just large enough to satisfy the region's average water demand for the day, and let the power of the water tower take over during the times with demand that exceeds the pump's capabilities. When water demand goes down at night, the pump can replace the water in the tower. Also, if the power goes out and the city's water pumps fail, the water tower can keep water running smoothly for at least 24 hours.

Go inside a water tower in Edmond, Oklahoma:

And in Bloomington, Minnesota:

Look at that tank!

And here's a 1-million-gallon water tank getting cleaned:

While water towers generally seem like the product of a bygone era, they're still very much relevant today. The Louisville Water Tower in Kentucky, built in 1860, is the oldest surviving water tower in the country, and it's still in use. In New York City, millions of people still get water from water towers, though it's one of the last large cities to rely on the system. Stored on top of tall buildings, these water towers provide the pressure for water to flow even if the electricity goes off (especially during a fire).

And, of course, one cannot discount the cultural importance of the water tower:

Every city deserves a skyscraper-sized civic monument to its favorite crop. Or beverage decanter.

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As infrastructure goes, water towers are pretty picturesque. Some people turn them into houses once the city no longer needs them. The designers at Pop Chart Lab have created a visual ode to New York City's water tower taxonomy. But why exactly do we need to store our water hundreds of feet above the city?

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When you first look at a water tower, you might think that it only exists to store water, but that is not the main reason water towers exist. The main function of a water tower is to give water pressure to be distribution.

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At first glance, it would be easy to assume that water towers exist to store water. They are, after all, giant above ground vessels filled with anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of gallons of water.

But whether you're talking about a modest little water tower perched atop an apartment building within the city or a giant municipal water tower, water storage is not the primary function of the tower (if water storage was the only goal, it would be significantly cheaper to build a reservoir).

The primary function of water towers is to pressurize water for distribution. Elevating the water high above the pipes that distribute it throughout the surrounding building or community ensures that hydrostatic pressure, driven by gravity, forces the water down and through the system. With water towers, our customers are assured of adequate, stable water pressure when they open a faucet, wash clothes, or use water in any other way.

The design helps keep the cost of water distribution lower for two reasons. First, it allows for centralization of pumping and pressurization, and decreases the number of pumping stations needed in the vicinity of the water tower. Second, it allows Henderson Water Utility to pump water up to the tower during off-peak energy times to decrease the expense of running the pumps.

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At first glance, it would be easy to assume that water towers exist to store water. They are, after all, giant above ground vessels filled with anywhere from tens of thousands to millions of gallons of water.

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A water tower is a tower used a reservoir to give water. An example is the Chicago Water Tower.

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Water tower definition is - a tower or standpipe serving as a reservoir to deliver water at a required head.

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In the past, water towers have been filled up with rainwater. Now, the water is pumped into them.

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Today, water flows downhill. The University of Houstons College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them.

They loom over us. Some shaped like golf balls on their tees, others like the buckets that they are. Theyre water towers. And theyre engineering at its best.

In times past, water towers were filled by collecting rainwater. Today, we typically treat groundwater then pump it into a sealed tank. We might ask, if were going to spend all that energy pumping water up in the air, why not just pump it directly to homes and businesses?

The fact is, we could, and some water systems are set up that way. But water towers offer some important advantages. We can still get water even if the power goes out. Once the waters in the tower, gravity will do the rest. It keeps running even if televisions and air conditioners wont - at least until the tank runs dry.

But there are some less obvious advantages as well. We use a lot of water during the day, but very little late at night. If we relied on water pumps alone, wed have to buy pumps large enough to handle peak demand. If not, our morning showers might be more of a drizzle than a rousing spray. With water towers, we can use smaller pumps; pumps capable of handling only average demand. A well designed water tower system will tend to empty during the day, when the pumps cant keep up, then fill at night. Overall, this leads to greater efficiency.

Electricity isnt the same. We can store it in batteries, but we lose a lot of energy in the process. We dont get that kind of energy loss by pumping water up rather than out to homes and businesses. The energy used to pump the water up becomes the potential energy of the suspended water. We recover almost all of that energy when gravity pulls it back to earth.

Of course, the water tower needs to stand taller than the buildings it serves. Imagine building a water tower tall enough to serve the skyscrapers in Manhattan. But thats actually what happens. Each tall building has its own water tower - on top of the building. It adds a level of safety, too, since water to fight fires will flow even if the electricity goes out.

And theres one more benefit to water towers, though not everyone views it as a benefit. Community water towers stand proudly against the sky. They can be used to express civic pride or a little humor - with towers shaped like an ear of corn, a bottle of ketchup, or a pineapple. Some are quite beautiful, designed like clock towers or abstract geometric forms, and brightly decorated during the holidays. But most water towers remain plain in design and decoration. Perhaps someday artists will take as much interest in them as civil engineers have.

Im Andy Boyd at the University of Houston, where were interested in the way inventive minds work.

(Theme music)

Notes and references:

The picture of the pineapple water tower is taken from the Dole Tiny Pineapple Gallery web site: http://www.tinypineapple.com/gallery. All other pictures are from Wikimedia Commons.

The collage of photos were taken by John H. Leinhard.

The Engines of Our Ingenuity is Copyright © 1988-2010 by John H. Lienhard.

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Today, water flows downhill. The University of Houstons College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them. They loom over us. Some shaped like golf balls on their tees, others like the buckets that they are. Theyre water towers.

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Water towers keep us safe in emergencies. They also keep the ongoing pressure in the pipes.

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When you think of public infrastructure, you probably think of roads, bridges, and possibly water towers. These often massive structures are a staple of 21st-century urban planning. They're all around us, but have you ever stopped to think about what is their purpose and how they work?

How water towers work

We can all likely understand that water towers hold significant amounts of water up in the sky, but their usefulness and engineering intricacies go much further than this.

Water towers and their siblings, known as standpipes, come in all sorts of different sizes and shapes, each with roughly the same goal, to keep water networks pressured.

Many water towers function simply as open flowing holding tanks to pressurized water systems. This means that there often isn't a pump directly next to the water tower, pumping water up to the top. This, however, is accomplished by the already present pressure in a water system from pumps back at the source of the clean drinking water.

For example, if a pipe network was pressurized to 50 psi or pounds per square inch, then the system would be able to push water 115 feet into the air, storing it in the water tower tank. This resulting elevation of water, because of the pipe network's pressure, is called "head." Each psi of pressure is equivalent to about 2.31 feet of head. Using this simple calculation, engineers can determine the proper height to design water towers and their storage capacity based on normal pipe network conditions.

Water towers and municipal water networks

Now that we have that simple understanding out of the way, we can start to grasp the overall concept. Most water towers are relatively simple machines. Clean water leaves a water treatment plant and is pushed into the network using a series of main pumps. These pumps place pressure on the water system, allowing it to flow to all the necessary outlets, including inside water towers. A standard water tower might hold in the range of a million gallons, but their capacity varies greatly depending on system requirements.
RELATED: WHY FLUSHING HYDRANTS AND WASTING WATER KEEPS YOU SAFE
As we said before, each psi of pressure before a water tower can push a column of water up about 2.31 feet. When the water leaves the water tower, each foot of water converts into . 43 psi. So, if a water tower is storing 100 feet of water, then it could supply 43 psi of pressure to the system.
We've got the basics of how water towers function out of the way, but all this doesn't answer the question of why...?
Keeping large quantities of water high off the ground plays an important role in regulating water pressure for cities across the world. The demand for water fluctuates throughout the day. During lunch or in the morning, more water may be required from the system to satisfy the user's needs. Wastewater treatment plant operators can even tell when halftime at the Superbowl is because of the significantly increased flow rate.

All that said, engineers and operators try to keep the water system at fairly constant pressure or at least above minimum pressures for safety. Doing so with only pumps would mean significantly more energy usage during peak times and nearly no energy usage during off times like in the night. Adding water towers into the system allows for the pumps to run at a fairly constant rate with the stored water in the towers making up for the peak times. During off time, the water towers will refill acting as a buffer, storing any excess energy in the system.

Water towers in daily life

Water towers not only act as a buffer, but they also help in times of emergency. Pumps, like any other machine, often break. Without water towers, this would mean entire networks could lose water pressure, potentially allowing deadly bacteria into the pipe network. Water towers allow for small periods of downtime on the pump end, often up to 24 hours, to help keep the system up and running. For all these reasons, most pressurized water networks since the late 19th century into today have used water towers in their designs.

So, water towers function to regulate flow, decrease variable strain on pumps, store excess water supply and energy and serve as backups in times of emergency.

These structures are essential aspects of water networks and modern municipal infrastructure. You can think of these monolithic masts as great regulators in water supply systems across the world. Without them, engineers would have a hard time keeping your water free of bacteria and supplied to you at constant pressures.

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Water Towers Function as "Pressure Batteries" for Municipal Water Systems

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When you think of public infrastructure, you probably think of roads, bridges, and possibly, water towers. These often massive structures are a staple of 21st-century urban planning, they're all around us... but have you ever stopped to think about how and why they work?

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This is how a water tower works.  The water is pumped into the city when needed.

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This image shows a decorative water tower. The water tower can be a way to show town spirit.

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The Chicago Water Tower was one of the only things to survive the Chicago. It was created in 1869.

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One of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire, the Historic Water Tower is an icon on North Michigan Avenue and houses the City Gallery, which showcases Chicago photography. The tower was built in 1869 by architect William W. Boyington.

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Chicago Historic Water Tower | Enjoy Illinois

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One of the few buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire, the Historic Water Tower is an icon on North Michigan Avenue and houses the City Gallery, which showcases Chicago photography. The tower was built in 1869 by architect William W. Boyington.

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Every town needs a water tower to provide for them in case of emergencies. All water towers work the same way.

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Have you ever seen a water tower and wondered if there was water inside the tower or if people still use water towers? Every city has a water tower but does every city use their water tower? Those are the questions we face when it comes to water towers.

To begin with, people still use water towers, it is true! In fact, every water system needs a water tower to provide water in case of an emergency. Water towers provide a vital role to make certain the water system in the municipal area is reliable. Although, water towers come in different shapes and sizes, they all work the same way. To put it simply, water towers are just elevated tanks of water. The water tower provides water pressure which makes the tower reliable in times of need. Gravity takes place! Scientists estimate

that each foot of a water tower's height is equivalent to a little less than half a pound per square inch of pressure.

The height of the water tower is determined using a formula. The formula takes into consideration the lay out of the land and the amount of people living in the area. If you live in an area that has a lot of hills, the water towers can be placed on higher grounds which would make for a shorter tower. In flat areas the towers are taller. Water towers hold 50 times the amount of water a backyard swimming pool will hold, that is a lot of water! The towers are built to hold at least one days' worth of water. The largest man-made water tower can hold 1.2 million gallons of water! Water towers in major cities such as New York City place their water towers on the top of their roofs. These types of water towers are required by local laws. This is so the water tower attached to the building will be enough to help those inside the building.

There we go! Water towers are a pretty big deal! They could help out a city in a state of emergency. Hague Water is determined to provide water facts to keep everyone informed. Water is so important to our life. If you are worried about the water in your home, reach out to Hague water for a FREE in-home water test. Hague Water is on a path to providing clean water for everyone.

Questions? Your local Hague Water dealer can help! Find a Dealer Near You

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We Still Use Water Towers? | Hague Quality Water

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Have you ever seen a water tower and wondered if there was water inside the tower or if people still use water towers? Every city has a water tower but does every city use their water tower? Those are the questions we face when it comes to water towers.

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There are barely any water failures because of these. The water towers are very reliable.

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Have you ever experienced a "water failure"? That is, have you ever turned on your faucet and found that no water came out of it? If you get your water from a municipal water system, the answer is probably "no."

We have power failures all the time. Cable TV goes out fairly frequently. Although less common, the phone system goes down every so often, and it is now common to get an "all circuits busy" message when making long-distance calls. But the water in any city or suburb is always there. Water pressure is very reliable.

A big reason for that level of reliability is the water tower. You see water towers everywhere, especially if you live in a flat area full of small towns. Each water system has one or more towers. In this article, we will look at how water towers work. The next time you drive by a water tower, you will know exactly what it is doing.

Tower, Tank and Pump

A water tower is an incredibly simple device. Although water towers come in all shapes and sizes, they all do the same thing: A water tower is simply a large, elevated tank of water. For example, take the water tower shown at the right. This tower is located in Kill Devils Hill, near Kitty Hawk, NC. It is about 165 feet (50 meters) tall.

Water towers are tall to provide pressure. Each foot of height provides 0.43 PSI (pounds per square Inch) of pressure. A typical municipal water supply runs at between 50 and 100 PSI (major appliances require at least 20 to 30 PSI). The water tower must be tall enough to supply that level of pressure to all of the houses and businesses in the area of the tower. So water towers are typically located on high ground, and they are tall enough to provide the necessary pressure. In hilly regions, a tower can sometimes be replaced by a simple tank located on the highest hill in the area.

A water tower's tank is normally quite large. A normal in-ground swimming pool in someone's backyard might hold something like 20,000 or 30,000 gallons (that's a lot of water!), and a typical water tower might hold 50 times that amount! Typically, a water tower's tank is sized to hold about a day's worth of water for the community served by the tower. If the pumps fail (for example, during a power failure), the water tower holds enough water to keep things flowing for about a day.

One of the big advantages of a water tower is that it lets a municipality size its pumps for average rather than peak demand. That can save a community a lot of money.

Say that the water consumption for a pumping station averages 500 gallons of water per minute (or 720,000 gallons over the course of a day). There will be times during the day when water consumption is much greater than 500 gallons per minute. For example, in the morning, lots of people wake up at about the same time (say 7:00 a.m.) to go to work. They go to the bathroom, take a shower, brush their teeth, etc. Water demand might peak at 2,000 gallons per minute at 7 a.m. -- there is a big cost difference between a 500-gallon-per-minute pump and a 2,000-gallon-per-minute pump. Because of the water tower, the municipality can purchase a 500-gallon-per-minute pump and let the water tower handle the peak demand. At night, when demand normally falls to practically zero, the pump can make up the difference and refill the water tower.

In most towns, the water people drink comes from either a well, a river or a reservoir (normally a local lake). The water is treated in a water treatment plant to remove sediment (by filtration and/or settling) and bacteria (typically with ozone, ultraviolet light and chlorine). The output from the water treatment plant is clear, germ-free water. A high-lift pump pressurizes the water and sends it to the water system's primary feeder pipes. The water tower is attached to the primary feeders quite simply, as shown in this diagram:

If the pump is producing more water than the water system needs, the excess flows automatically into the tank. If the community is demanding more water than the pump can supply, then water flows out of the tank to meet the need.

Form and Function

Water towers come in all shapes and sizes. Take, for example, this giant peach along I-85 in Gaffney, South Carolina.

In a city, tall buildings often need to solve their own water pressure problems. Because the buildings are so tall, they often exceed the height that the city's water pressure can handle. So a tall building will have its own pumps and its own water towers. In the following picture, taken from the Empire State Building in New York City, there are at least 30 small water towers visible on the tops of these buildings.

Another interesting fact about water towers -- they can affect your insurance rates! During a fire, the water demand increases significantly and may greatly exceed the capacity of the pumps at the water plant. A water tower guarantees that there will be enough pressure to keep water flowing through the fire hydrants. Fire insurance rates are normally lower in a community in which the water system has water towers.

The next time you are out driving around, especially if you are driving through a series of small towns, take the time to notice the water towers. Now that you know how they work, you will be amazed by how many you see and by all the different forms they take!

For more information on water towers and related topics, check out the links on the next page.

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You've probably noticed that there are power outages all the time -- but water outages? Much less common... How does the system work, and work so well? It's simpler than you may think. Find out how the design and location of water towers keep the water flowing.