How Do Water Towers Work?

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — As cities ask homeowners to conserve water, it’s bringing up questions about how we get our water in the first place.

Tom from St. Cloud and Nancy from Edina asked this Good Question: How do water towers work? Heather Brown went high above for answers at the Eagan Water Tower.

It took our crew about 20 minutes to climb up the ladder inside the tower to stand about 180 feet off the ground — on top of a million gallons of water. We made the trip with Eagan Utilities Superintendent Jon Eaton.

“Water towers have two primary purposes, one is for pressure,” Eaton said.

Water needs to be stored high up so gravity can create the necessary pressure.

“The second thing we do is primarily for storage and for fire protection,” Eaton said. “So it allows us a buffer during day when demands get really high.”

Why can’t we just store it on the ground? Eaton says the issue is space. Where would they store the treated water? And what would it cost to pump?

“Part of this is saving the public a significant amount of money by just storing it up high and letting nature do the work,” he said.

(credit: CBS)

And no matter where you get your water from, the water towers work the same. Water comes in from a single big pipe outside.

“Through the floor, the pipe just goes straight up to the bottom of the bowl,” he said.

So why doesn’t it freeze in the winter?

“We purposefully cycle the water in the towers up and down,” Eaton said.

Depending on demand, the water in this tower often turns over five times a day.

Eaton says the drought doesn’t affect how much water is in the tower.

“What the drought really affects is our source water, so we’re constantly watching what the water levels are, the aquifer levels,” he said.

And why doesn’t the Eagan Water Tower have the city’s name on it? Eaton says while the tower supplies water to Eagan, it also supplies it to parts of neighboring Inver Grove Heights — where the tower is actually located.

Water towers are monitored 24 hours a day, and alarms sounds any time a door opens. Eagan city crews do make the climb about once a month for security reasons, making sure everything is working smoothly, and to check on the airplane avoidance lights that shine on top.

Source: CBS Minnesota