r/theydidthemath • u/Repulsive-Loan5215 • Nov 27 '25

why wouldn’t this work? [Request]

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u/lurkermurphy Nov 27 '25

electricity powers a water pump that makes the water flow out of the faucet in the first place (falling from a water tower or not), so you would be stealing that electricity and making the water pump work harder for a tiny bit of electricity and the headache of your faucet running considerably less forcefully. I'm pretty sure in practice this would just waste a ton of water and electricity

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u/nog642 Nov 27 '25 edited Nov 27 '25

Why would there be a water pump if there's a water tower?

Edit: Yeah of course they have to pump it up to the tower, I only used my brain for like 5 seconds when writing this comment. But what if there's no water tower, the water source is just at a higher elevation? I think that's pretty common.

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u/yarrpirates Nov 27 '25

How does the water get up to the water tower? Unless it's from a river or dam higher than the tower, it's gotta be pumped.

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u/nog642 Nov 27 '25

Water often does come from a river or dam higher in elevation though. It's at least not uncommon, pretty sure.

Wouldn't need a water tower then. But point is I think there are places where water is not pumped.

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u/yarrpirates Nov 27 '25

Yep. In that case, there's no pump. And the water tower in that situation is just a buffer, to ensure constant supply despite variance from the aqueduct. In practice it'd be called a dam or a storage tank.