POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE, DESIGN, AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

STA. MESA, MANILA

REACTION PAPER
FUNDAMENTALS OF WATER SYSTEM
PAUL ANGEL S. DELA ROSA
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
delarosapaulangel0@gmail.com
paulangel.home.blog

FUNDAMENTALS OF WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM

Water has always been a fundamental part of living biologically; meaning without it, we can’t
live for long. But it doesn’t mean that any water is fine, we need to have potable water in order to live,
waters that have contaminants will be fatal to us as it may shorten our lives rather than lengthen it.
Sources of water are as crucial as the water itself as it contributes greatly to the quality of it when
used for different purposes.
What are the sources of water? These may be bodies of water, aquifers, rain because they
have water that can be treated and harvested for our benefit. In the 21 st Century, we how have
additional sources like reservoirs, tanks and cisterns. Their ability to harvest water made them a good
source of potable water. How do we catch or treat water? We usually harvest water from different
bodies by building dams and reservoirs to do this; these can catch rainwater for additional water
supply and then treat it before distributing for all people to use. We also use cisterns to catch
rainwater that’s falling because rainwater can also be treated for our benefit.
Now that we live in modern times, we have the technology, resources and time to harvest
potable water for our benefit; the only question is, how do we distribute it to all people? That’s where
plumbing systems come.
In our subject Building Utilities, we were introduced to the fundamentals of water system,
which will answer our question just like that. Water supply system ensures that all of people have
equal access to potable water, wherever or how high they may be. To achieve that, the system of
pipes, valves and other components must be established and to maintain the right pressure.
Some buildings make use of Gravity water distribution systems due to the fact that they are
energy efficient and only use gravity to create the pressure needed for different purposes may it be for
residential or commercial ones. Some also use Pneumatic water distribution systems to which the
source of water came from the ground and distributing it from there. It uses a lot of valves since the
water has to counter the force of gravity to avoid the change of direction of streams.