Are water switches redundant?

[nekys]

I mean, why build a water switch when you can build a big pump that can do the same thing AND pump water far away?

[Elessar_warrior]

Power consumption. 4 big pumps at full power consume 1 substation of power.

[High King Lemur]

Pumping stations don't reduce water pressure like switches but often you don't need the full capacity of water pipes. Maybe you have a few buildings some way off that can make do with low pressure, allowing you to save electricity.

[Silent_Shadow]

Water switches don't lose pressure so long as their source isn't lower than their destination(s), so you could have one pressure source (a pump or a drop in height) supply an entire area.

There are also a few exploits you can do with water switches, like exceed the flow limit of a pipe or getting water to flow uphill. The highest stable flow rate of water I have gotten to flow through a pipe is over 770 m³/day.