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Musings for Friday - Water Pressure [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-17

Forty plus years ago I worked for a small water-proofing company in North Carolina. I once had a client who had a four-sided basement and had water coming through cracks in the middle of the concrete floor, and this house was on top of a hill. That is an extreme example of hydro-static pressure in the wild. Without the house there, maybe it would have been the beginning of a spring, although probably not because the basement was 7ft. deep. It was also in the middle of a very wet season and the water table was very high. Several months later and we entered a drought.



There’s been a lot of talk about water storage and water pressure available to fight the fires in California, most of it has been driven by politics spouting ignorance. I am neither a civil engineer nor a hydrologist, but I do have some limited experience. I also equate water pressure to bandwidth. And in today’s society most people, even if they aren’t aware of it, deal with low bandwidth more frequently than they will low water pressure. And if they have dealt with low water pressure, it more than likely occurred via a bad valve to the house or a busted main water main close by. But low bandwidth is something we all have dealt with since the dawn of the internet and dial-up.





What Is The Purpose Of Water Towers? A water tower is a tall structure that holds a pressurized potable water system. Most water towers store potable (drinkable) water and operate in conjunction with drinking water reservoirs. Steel and concrete are two popular materials used in the construction of a water tower. Water towers have an interior coating to protect the water from contaminants in the outside materials. Most water towers are about 130 to 165 feet tall. Water towers are located on high ground to provide enough pressure to send water into a municipal water supply with enough force to supply all the customers in the area. A water pressure of about 0.43 PSI (pounds per square inch) is provided by every foot of height in a water tower.

Normally as we go about our day we have a consistent water pressure in our water supply, unless we experience an event. What kind of event? Well maybe some construction crew breaks a water main. Or. Or, maybe there’s a large fire nearby that draws a larger than usual volume of water from the line and the water towers and or pumps can’t keep the pressure to the desired amount.

I was going to add more content, but actually, I think I’ll leave it with my last sentence above.

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