Water Tower Wonder

I don't know if you figured this out about me yet, but I am a walker. NOT a TWD kind of walker, but an every day, three-season walker who tries for one-two miles a day and also tries to get out once in a while during winter, too.

I'm usually lost in thought or looking around at the scenery, but something that occurred to me today (walking) was that almost every place I go has a water tower, and I never pay attention to them beyond a glance here and there.

Yet, they're really, really important. Aren't they? 

I decided to go home and read about them -- and guess what? Water towers don't actually store water for the towns and cities that build them. You would think they would, holding between tens of thousands to millions of gallons of water. 

The main function of a water tower is to pressurize water for distribution. It's elevated high up over the pipes that distribute it to make sure the hydrostatic pressure, driven by gravity, forces the water down and through the system. That allows people in nearby buildings or the community to find stable water pressure when they open faucets, wash clothes, or use water in other ways.

The design allows for centralization of pumping and pressurizing. It lowers the number of pumping stations needed in the surrounding areas where the water tower is located. It also allows water utility companies to pump water during off-peak energy times, which saves money.

Who pays for water towers? They're publicly owned, so we do. And after finding out how important they are, I'm glad I researched them, but now I'll probably stop thinking about them. Which is a good thing, because if I had to keep thinking about them, it would probably be for a not-so-great reason. I say this because before the pandemic, I never used to think about toilet paper or grocery shortages either.

So, today's civics lesson, for those of you who still know what civics is (or even still have civics class in high school) is, that stuff you take for granted all around you is actually doing something that you couldn't live without. 

Or if you did, you'd be a zombie in TWD. 

Learn more about water towers here.

Water tower photo: Dave Wright