Posting in this Pro & Utility category to question a claim by a pro (my local public water system tech) about water pressure booster pumps being installed in new homes to counter insufficient pressure to irrigate lawns in a growing community in Texas. His statement is that long-time customers of the water system are being pressure-penalized by the introduction of irrigation (or general residential water) booster pumps capable of drawing more flow from the system than the system’s own pumps can produce, essentially “sucking” water from the plant to the detriment of none-pump-enabled (existing) users. Before I raise hell about this, is it really possible? Or is this local tech providing an excuse for the provider neglecting infrastructure improvements (storage, wells, pumps, filters, etc.) to accommodate growth of customers in their area. The rapid decline (from 95 lbs. is “great” to 60 lbs. is “great”) of what’s provided (and therefore expected) and the increasing pressure fluctuations we experience at midnight to dawn irrigation hours leads me to believe it’s the latter. Anyone know something about this topic?
I mean, unless you have big massive yards that are requiring long throw rotors, most residential sprinkler systems should be running no more than 40psi, and drip irrigation should have pressure reducers inline to bring that down to about 15psi. At those pressure requirements, I highly doubt that you’d see issues with the supply pressure dropping from 95 to 65. Now, could a couple booster pumps in a community suck a water main dry, no…if every house had one, and every one of them was fired up at the same time, could you cause a reduction in pressure, sure. But that could happen without the pumps if every house was watering at the same time as well.
Usually you see pressure drops if you are on the dead head water main, but most water utilities will always have service loops which will allow for equalization of pressures and they are usually fed from multiple pump stations. During high demand, additional pump stations will fire up automatically to keep system pressures within a determined range.
Well… (pun) then the answer could be yes, there are effects. We have one local system, 3 pumps for about 500 residences, 2 wells, heavy filtration (5+ inline filters), massive yards, long throw rotors, dead ends (limited loops), some big elevation changes, and everybody’s trying to water .5 to 2 acres between midnight and sunrise. Facility does run over 60 psi, though they used to run much higher. They service our fire hydrants, which are all painted black. You know what that means.
I’ve been in the same location for 20 years (east Texas), and it’s now everybody’s favorite place. Even in our Piney Woods wilderness, these are former city dwellers building these homes. I’m ever grateful for Rachio, which does 2 things well - limits the amount of water I need, and knows what to do with the water I have.
Well, with a small water utility like that, it is very possible that those with booster pumps could be hoarding the water.