Reservoirs: What Goes Up Must Come Down
Activity Time: 45 minutes
TEACHERS: Read “The South Peel System – Then and Now” on page 75 of Peel Water Story book.
Objectives:
Students will:
• Identify what is in a water reservoir
• Understand the role of reservoirs in water distribution
• Understand the role of pumps and gravity in municipal drinking water distribution
Introduction:
In this activity, the students will learn how clean, treated water is delivered to homes,
schools and businesses using a system of underground pipes, pumps, and above and below
ground storage reservoirs. They will discover how this system evolved from original
methods of hand delivery of water, and gain an appreciation for the engineering involved in
water distribution. Background information is provided to give you a thorough
understanding of the entire concept.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
In Peel, people in Mississauga, Brampton and Bolton
get their drinking water from Lake Ontario. The lake
water is treated at one of Peel’s two Drinking Water
Treatment Facilities, which are both located along
the shores of Lake Ontario, in Mississauga.
The people in the rest of the Town of Caledon get
their water from underground. This groundwater is
drawn up through wells that can extend up to 80
metres (273 feet) underground. The Region of Peel
currently operates 13 Municipal Wells. (Some
residents get their water from private wells on their
own property).
A. Treated Water (from Lake or Well)
The treated drinking water from the Treatment
B. Pump
Facilities and Municipal Wells is then pumped to
C. Water delivered to end-user
homes, schools and businesses through hundreds
D. Water in Reservoir (pumped into
Reservoir, and gravity fed back out to
of kilometres of underground pipes. Along the
way, the water is stored at various Reservoirs.
Reservoirs are used to store vast quantities of treated drinking water. They can either be
large concrete underground storage tanks (cover by soccer field, for example), or the more
easily recognizable Water Tower.
Water naturally flows downhill, under the influence of gravity. In order to move the clean
water uphill from the Treatment Plants and the Wells to the end-users, huge mechanical
pumps are used. Some pumps are as powerful as 1500 horsepower. These pumps are
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located at the Treatment Facilities and at various locations through the pipe system, called
“Pumping Zones”. There are six Pumping Zones in the South Peel System, serving
Mississauga, Brampton and Bolton. At each Pumping Zone is a Reservoir used to store
millions of litres of water for daily use.
Water Towers not only store drinking water, they regulate water pressure and also store
water for fire protection. Twenty percent of the water contained in the Reservoir is for
fire protection. They must always be at least 20% full, in order to ensure there is enough
water, and water pressure, in the system for firefighting. Water must blast out of a fire
hydrant, not trickle out.
VOCABULARY
• Water Reservoir - Includes water towers, stand pipes or underground concrete tanks
used to store vast quantities of clean, treated water. Reservoirs are located at various
points between the treated water source (treatment facility or well) and the end-user.
• End-User - A person at home, school, business or industry turning on taps to use water.
• Watermain – An underground pipe, (traditionally made of wood, and today made of
concrete, PVC plastic, or cast iron) used to deliver treated water to the end-user. It
can be up to 3 metres in diameter.
• Groundwater - Water drawn from underground using a well.
• Drinking Water Treatment Facility - A facility where water is cleaned and purified for
drinking and other human uses.
Materials:
• 2 large clear plastic tubs
• 2 smaller clear plastic tubs
• Flexible clear plastic tubes
• Small hand pump
• Straws
• Syringe
• Photos of reservoirs - underground and water tower (see below)
• (optional) Peel Map showing Water Treatment Facilities, Municipal Wells, and Water
mains, (see GIS maps webpage at www.peelwaterstory.ca )
The two small tubs represent homes, one large tub represents the “LAKE”, and the other
large tub represents the “RESERVOIR.” Place the LAKE tub on the ground, since the lake
would always be at the lowest elevation. Place the two smaller HOMES tubs on the table
above the lake. Finally, place the RESERVOIR on A higher surface above the table with the
HOMES. Fill all the tubs with water.
For the Part 1 of the demonstration, run the clear plastic tubing from the LAKE to the
HOMES. For Part 2 run the tubing from the LAKE to the RESERVOIR, and from the
RESERVIOR to the HOMES. The tubing represents the watermains.
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Procedure:
Part 1
1. Ask the children if they know what a reservoir is
and what it looks like. Show photos of in-ground and
above ground reservoirs (below). Ask if they know
what a reservoir is used for (to store clean water).
Outline the watermain and reservoir locations in Peel
(using maps from GIS webpage).
2. Ask the students about where First Nations and
early European settlers in Peel got their water (lake,
river, spring, or groundwater). Point out that they
always had to live close to one of these sources of
drinking water. They would use pails and other vessels to carry their water supply from the
source to their homes every day. (Read “Simply Water” on page 44 or The Peel Water Story
book).
3. As populations grew and more people settled in towns, water supply systems began to
improve. Rather than force everyone to walk or take their wagons to fill their pails at the
central pump, watermains (originally wooden pipes) were built to carry the water from the
central source to people’s homes. Pumps were attached to the watermains to pump the
water into the pipes. The first pumps were operated by hand.
4. Allow children to hand pump water from the large tub (which represents the lake) to
the smaller tubs (representing homes in the community). The pump was a great invention.
People no longer had to go down to the river or out to the well to collect water. Now, as
long as someone was pumping water into the pipes, people had water piped directly to
their homes.
5. This meant there was still one problem. At night when the person operating the pump
went home to bed, there was no one pumping the water. Ask the children what will
happen when the student pumping decides to go home to bed. Have children stop pumping
and let them observe what happens. So water stopped coming out of people’s taps every
night. This also meant there was also no water for firefighting at night. Back then people
had no electricity. Fires often broke out at night since candles and oil lamps were used so
much.
6. Tell the children that finally someone built a reservoir to store water. The reservoir
kept enough water for everyone to use during the day and at night and also stored enough
water to be used to fight fires. The reservoir was always built on the highest point of land.
The water was pumped up to the reservoir during the day, and then when the pump wasn’t
working there was enough pressure from the water in the reservoir that it continued to flow
by gravity to the homes below. The next morning, the reservoir would get filled again by
the person operating the pump. (Read page 59 of The Peel Water Story book on the
importance of reservoirs to steam engines for early railways).
7. Show the children a straw, fill it with water; hold your finger over the end. Remove your
finger and show them that the water flows out. This is the force of gravity on the water.
Part 2
8. Now run the clear tubing from the LAKE to the RESERVOIR, and from the RESERVOIR to
the HOMES. Have one student hand pump water from the LAKE to the RESERVOIR. Use a
siphon technique to get the water flowing from the RESERVOIR to the HOMES. The siphon
can be started using a syringe to suck some of the water from the Reservoir into the plastic
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tubing. When the plastic tubing is full, let the water flow into the tub representing the
HOMES. By keeping the tubing lower than the reservoir, water will always flow. This
demonstrates how the reservoir can supply water to the homes using gravity.
9. Now talk about the importance and reliability of the water system to our daily lives.
Without the wonderful water system that exists today, we would have to carry water to our
homes to wash, cook, clean, bathe and drink. And without a constant water supply, homes
could be in danger of burning to the ground.
**Also try the Peel Water Story activity “Water Distribution in Peel Using GIS”
Adapted from the Peel Children’s Water Festival by the Region of Peel’s Environment, Transportation and
Planning Services Department, Public Education & Outreach.
Contents of this publication may be photocopied provided the source is acknowledged on every page by
including the following Peel Water Story, Environment, Transportation and Planning Services Department,
Region of Peel
Not to be adapted or reprinted without written permission of the Environment, Transportation and Planning
Services Department of the Regional Municipality of Peel. 10 Peel Centre Drive, Brampton, Ontario L6T 4B9
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Streetsville Water Tower – above ground reservoir
Caledon Village Reservoir – underground reservoir
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