Inside New York City's Water Towers | The New York Times 

It's not really easy to rewire all pipes in NYC to todays standards like most suburbs and small towns... You'll have to rewire everything big time because for the amnt of ppl using the water at once, the flow has to be massive (so bigger pipes)... All buildings are connected to the same water system.... There is no way it will supply everyone at once, a tank will have to exist one way or another... It will also be very challenging to upgrade anything in such tall old building. I was in a newer 40 story hotel in NYC and the kitchen sink pipe was so wide you could fit a cup in there. I was shocked and scared a rat would climb out of there and even then the water took a long time to drain because the whole building was using it at once

@@brainey001 And how do you suppose other nations with heavily populated cities deal with this issue?

NorwegianNightmare nyc is huge and it is very hard to do any repairs or stuff. Just look at the subway. It needs repair but they never find a time to fix it cuz of how busy New Yorkers are and cuz of how much they use the subway

@@Destin5258 In São Paulo, Brazil, if you run a business you should have a valid proof of the watertank cleaning, this is enforced by the government bureaus. Wood watertanks are banned since 20's in Brazil, they should be made out concrete, fiberglass or plastic. All brazilian houses have at least a 500 litres watertank because in some places water supply could be variable.

@@xc9zf If you think NYC is yuuuuge you should have a look at Tokyo. Makes NYC look like Bumfuck, Nebraska. And yet they still manage.

That was my question. My guess is that it would become a lightning rod if it were metallic.

In other parts of the world, plastic tanks are very popular. They're non-reactive and non-conductive.

The problem isn't that it's made of wood it's what kid of wood. These tanks are made of spruce but they should be made of red cedar, that's what they make wine and whisky barrels from. You need a wood that likes water. Cedars only grow in marsh they live there whole life wet it's the best wood for the job.

Because building management companies who take tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from each building as a service charge take more of it as profit than they should, while not portioning enough money off into funds for larger projects when they're needed. Systems need annual maintenance, but over the course of ~50 years enough money should have been put aside to be able to replace the entire system when it comes to its end of life, and this simply hasn't happened.

Pseudo Nym my guess is most of the new ones are not wood but some of these tanks are on building that predate modern plastics.

Stainless steel plates also fit in lifts. And since buildings are mostly built with the aid of cranes, you can put a stainless steel tank on top.

What about a water pump that shuts on when you need it? less stationary water, problem solved.

Chris Landry Starret City elevators go to the roof.

1vachmed94 that is essentially what happens. but the tank is required because if 100 people in the building turn their taps on at the same time it would overload the pump. the tank is like a battery for the pump having a water tank on the roof is also quite useful in the event of a power outage or fire.

You could just install more pumps, in my 10 story apartment building it has just 3 pumps for the whole building. I don't think it will be useful in case of a fire. The amount of water needed to extinguish the fire is way more than the tank on the roof.

Eeeep!

This is how water tanks look like in most industry nations. Here in germany water is either stored in stainless steel or food grade plastic.

you gotta fit it in an elevator

Too expensive never will happen

Yeah that's what we need, more regulations in NYC :/ The regulations obviously don't work on their own

They need to use the right wood, like the kind used for whiskey barrels.

These tanks were built in place when the buildings were built. Repairs are easy, most are cedar. It's not the tanks that are the real problem, it's the water itself.

Ben Bennett wood has pores and can degrade perfect for bacteria colonies to form.

Wood's insulated enough to stop water from freezing in the winter, expansive enough to survive the summer and most importantly, being 100% shone on by the sun year after year wood can usually weather that and isn't particularly hot to the touch which makes them serviceable. Wood's a fine resource to use, just take bloody care of it. You think a stainless tank won't be growing hair algae given the same amount of crap care given? Plastic's even worse in most cases, it doesn't have the natural wood oils and when heated leaks plastic contaminants. It's the reason why most plastic water bottles for drinking now say BPA free. Obviously could use that more expensive plastic, but in most cases to reinforce it enough to take a large amount of water you'd rather just use stainless sheets.

@The P moron

Sad!

stainless steel tanks are cleaner and more expensive to operate ?!

The same way they get the giant air conditioning and other considerably heavier equipment.

+ike fun stainless steel sheets that are bolted together at the top of the building.

wood rots...

Not if maintained

ike fun You ask why they should change and build tanks out of plastic or metal instead of wood when wood has been the choice for hundred years. Are you serious? :D :D Same reason we build cars meanwhile out of metal and plastic instead of wood. It lasts longer, it won't rot and therefore maintenance is significantly less important. If we wouldn't have ever changed the materials we build stuff out we would still be cavemen using spears with sharp stones at the end.

Almost like it's an illusion

...you can’t be serious?

only in tall buildings

Sejal Khan so, in a hotel, on say, the 12th floor I am drinking tank water?

@@rebekahalessi3731 probably.

Well a lot of people drink water that has been contaminated by chemicals from coal pants or industries.

That's the way we tawk in new yawk.

I heard that as I was reading it.

He looks like Jon Lovitz

Well it is water sauce.

dont make fun of peoples accent

eeewww!!

Hahaha

Stray Dog I hope you ain't feeding that stray mutt

because it's run by liberals with an agenda

Uh, this is the NY Times

From just one sample, one cannot even conclude what you like, to make it systematicly

Wolf Smith near NYC is nice, in NYC less so

You’re either an envious southerner or foreigner. *SAD.*

Greg Caesar Enjoy your grey water and crime.

TheBoBabsin NYC water is actually known to be among the best in the nation. It is also what gives NYC bagels and pizza their excellent dough. Not every building depends on a water tower and not every water tower is contaminated. Being aware of the issue means we should work to correct it, not abandon NYC. And incidentally, any big city will have this issue. So Houston, Texas* or wherever is not exempt. Edit: *although, as an older city, NYC has more functioning roof-top water tanks than newer cities towards the West. Further reading: www.asse-plumbing.org/Articles/Water/How%20Potable%20Water%20Rises%20to%20the%20Top%20of%20Skyscrapers-%20Octo-Dec05.pdf

Water tanks not being cleaned is a nationwide problem, this is not confined to NYC

Exactly the Great Lakes has some of the best drinking water in the country. But to make sure my water is clean, I draw my water from my own well which gets treated and cleaned 4 times before drinking it using a reverse osmosis system.

I'm glad I live in Chicago

Chicago has roof tanks too, Zappy.

zappy Thank you Switzerland for consisting basically only of mountains and lakes, so my country has literally never had to worry about clean water since its founding. I know I'm lucky to have grown up here, and not every place in the world can have such ideal conditions. But still, this is absolutely disgusting and a disgrace, especially for a country that's so filthy rich. The USA see themselves as the centre of the world, and yet they can't even keep their own water supply clean. And it's not just some poor forgotten villages in the middle of nowhere, it's literally the capital and all the big cities that are most affected! How can this even happen!? I would drink uncleaned, undistilled water from any lake in switzerland for the rest of my life before touching that sewage with a ten foot pole. I can guarantee you that it's still 20 times cleaner and healthier than whatever bacteria infested sludge resides in these tanks. Edit: I realize I messed up saying NY was the capital of the US, my bad. My point still stands though.

zappy ha, thank you rocky mountain snow.

Oh Canada, oh oh oh Canada

​@@essa.321 Thank you. Well said. I just reread my weird comment and only saw your reply now . High level pumping station comes to mind.. pumps it to the Bayview reservoir in Thornhill

Know you know...spread the word..

Well, you see how good it's regulated, that no one sticks to it.

Theodor Körner there needs to be more work put into enforcement also along with harsh punishments, but to simply say regulations don’t work because people don’t comply is asinine. Might as well remove all laws since every single one has been broken, right? That’s your same logic.

The far right do not want more regulation. The far right and right wants less....first of all. Theres laws on the books.bloomberg brags about his accomplishments as mayor of New York but the show that he can't enforce basic Killeen water ordinance in his City but he runs on a platform of being a environmentalist.

Mkay. But New York and New Yor City has been run by Democrats for years, so.... Why don't Dems in New York do something about water tank regulation?

NYC tap water is actually one of the best, the point made here, is that the problem is in the storage tanks, you won't have any problem if your water comes directly from the municipal pipe.

Carly Schultz Just i dont get , is that so hard to get some pump house , i mean , many pump houses to keep up the demand. Now its gravity fed , and people have to use some unrestricted storage tanks , which are worse than drinking from the random lake.

Ramūnas Gudauskas To operate a pump house requires a lot of energy, i don't think any electric cable below Queens or Manhattan would have the capacity to run an pump that could pump water to reach every skyscraper. I dont think the issues is with skyscrapers, i think its more with older apartments like ones built before 1970.

@@bl00dra1nn Problem is people don't get to chose if they drink from municipal pipes or storage tanks. Their place of residence dictates what water they drink. Unless of course you are willing to be ripped of and buy bottled water.

You are probably living in an EU country, so thanks to the EU-regulation you can enjoy the highest tap water standards in the whole world.

In California as well. The only time you have a tank is if you have a personal well

hello

JustTheBeginning being rich is practically a requirement to rent in Manhattan or Queens

Why should they care? The land lords are the ones who should care.

Why should they care? The people drinking the water should do something about it

@@cplcabs Because the city has a commitment to maintain the health and safety of its citizens within its abilities. The landlord will NEVER care unless they are financially or legally liable and the rules are enforced.

Actually, they are since most will be on the top floor/penthouse

Nope

It's like streets evrer changing problem

You_want_some_gamer You’re so delightfully naïve. Awww 🥰 😂👵🏻

@@janedoe805 i take afence to that stop it

Jane Doe what?

The tank is important for consistent pressure, but yeah they should be stainless steel!

Each apartment could have an expansion tank, like they do in homes that have a well.

Nyc's water supply is one of the cleanest on Earth, the problem are the storage tanks. These should be changed to stainless steel.

even Africa

Kalvin N and Mexico’s water still isn’t as clean as ours

Bushcraft NE hahaha, yea just ask the residents of Flint, Michigan. Hahaha see how clean their water is.

it's in the middle of being cleaned but still better than most of Mexico.

Octavio Bustillos this is about New York kid and Mexico water is horrific

thats literally what they did in the 1800s ny bc every water source was so contaminated, even children were drunk everyday ahahaha

I agree. A lot of people are complaining about it for some reason

Hashterix Saud Siddiqui New York’s water system can only pump water up to the 6th floor, so tanks are needed. They would have to completely rehaul the system. Water towers are still quite common across Canada, as they are a cheap and good way of maintaining water pressure. This paints a false portrait of watertowers. These ones are poorly maintained and made out of wood (or at least the wrong type).

NYC still uses 1940's techbology to run its subway systems.

That requires a high pressure system, most of these building are old so they have to be gravity fed. New buildings are designed to be pressurized water systems, its also cheaper having a pump turn on sometimes than all the time. You can install a system that will increase pressure slightly but that also costs alot, my house has crap water pressure on the top floor.

Jonathan Owens Well, idk about other places, but at my dad’s condominium the water pressure is *STUPID* strong , it blasts everything wet if you turn it on all the way cuz the water has to reach all the way to the 54th floor ;)

the difference is between potential energy and kinetic energy. storage tanks utilize potential. Pumps rely on kinetic. Basically, you are storing up energy that can be used when the power is cut off.

@@KrisMcCool where is this heaven you speak of? I love it when the water pressure is so high it takes your epidermis off ha!

Bok Old building? In New York? Londoner here- many of our buildings predate the USA. We have a similar population size to NYC and many live in apartments many stories high- yet we have never used rooftop tanks.

New York water is the best in the country,if not the world.

Dan Rod LOL

Doxie Lain I use one as a toilet

do what you gotta do.. glad your doing better..

Wow, what was that like?

Liessss

so many in fact that they have trouble enforcing them all :^D

doctor zaius some one didn’t watch the video....

Noah A It’s the idea that having the regulation in place makes at least some building owners take reasonable measures against contamination of their building’s water supply.

Only the regulations that can somehow gather revenue are prioritized. The millions of other (and rather ridiculous) regulations are ignored, because otherwise you'd need 90% of the population working in the public sector.

Did you miss that story about the dead body they found in a LA hotel water tank a few years ago? It was in there for like two weeks before guests started complaining about the water quality. Anyway, you've got them too - they're just hidden.

@Lapis Lazuli Its widely known new york has more liberals, I don't get this red vs blue thing that's going on. "Goshdarn liberals wanna take my guns away!" "Damned republicans living in the 1800's!"

V. Scott when I was there recently I honestly thought there was a mistake in the water treatment, it had so much chlorine it tasted like swimming pool water. I found it revolting. Still,Maithili those tanks I'm not surprised they go heavy on the chlorine, it needs it.

Yeah, all of a sudden living in a low apartment building and walking up five stairs every day seems like a nice feature to me. I can't believe those tanks are used for drinking water, I always thought they were there for fire prevention.

Yeggster Shane lol million dollars versus thousands lol

@@littlemoto1 plenty of Australians use plastic or painted-steel water tanks fed by rainwater because we're too far out of town to get piped water. Not expensive.

Almost all tall buildings have water towers built in.....

What? Really? What do you drink then? No really, this is a serious question. You have never even drank out of a water fountain at school?

@@simonrichard9873 Mineral water/bottled water . And the schools I went to don't have water fountains, but they supply spring water with the water dispensers.

Yeah, no, REALLY NO. Rural areas use them. Just NO!

New York has rent control, which disallows them from "adjusting rent". Get rid of socialists, and get rid of the problems they cause.

Still cleaner than rivers? That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard.

egn83b yeah adjust the rent… NYC is already expensive enough.

2fastHarley well there's Flint as an example.

totally

Jerome Cabral wow you drink expensive bottled tap water

Eein Fredrickson bottled clean and safe tap water

unbiased 2sides with that mentality get one of the faucet filters

Eein Fredrickson lol. Just saying. Filters can't trap bacteria.

Bacteria are everywhere, even in bottled water. It depends on the quality of the water supply. Fortunately I do not have to worry about the water here in Germany. Since the tap water is subject to stricter controls than bottled water, it is much more efficient to drink the tap water (at least in Germany).

hahahahaha

commendedzuez09n

Well....Status report, Mr. Zuez! lol it's 2018

you guessed wrong.

Only if you house has no tank at all, you can be happy.

They could do that, but it would cost more to have pumps running all the time to deliver water. Typically, water towers have water pumped into the tank at night when the demand is low, and deplete during the day. Water towers are usually meant to store enough water for one full day.

What BrandonPryorMusic said in his post is correct. The other reason for water tanks on the rooftops is two-fold. When/if the power goes out, you can still get water for a period. And, if there is a fire and power gets interrupted, same thing. A sprinkler system would be useless relying on pumped water once the power failed, but a sprinkler fed from above can continue to sprinkle until the tank and lines go dry. These reasons, prompted by numerous incidents years ago, prompted the laws requiring water tanks on top of buildings in NYC.

Without a water tower the pump has to be sized to maximum load and then ran at half power or less for all but an hour of the day..... With a water tower, the pump can be sized to average demands

problem is the pumps are not on demand pumps. Imagine how much electricity it would consume to pump that water every time there was a demand in the system. A lot of $$. Also imagine the wear and tear the pumps would take. It's way more practical to pump it all at once into a big tank and then you'd only have to run the pumps every so often to fill it. What I don't get is why they don't have some type of metal tank like a normal water tower would use. Even some type of composite tank would make a lot more sense than a wood tank. They could even add coatings to the sides to help keep bacterial growth to a minimum.