1991 Problem A:  Estimating Flow From a Water Tank

Some state water-rights agencies require from communities data on the rate of water use, in gallons per hour, and the total amount of water used each day.  Many communities do not have equipment to measure the flow of water in or out of the municipal tank.  Instead, they can measure only the level of water in the tank, within 0.5% accuracy, every hour. More importantly, whenever the level in the tank drops below some minimum level L, a pump fills the tank up to the maximum level, H, but there is no measurement of the pump flow either.  Thus, one cannot readily relate the level in the tank to the amount of water used while the pump is working, which occurs once or twice per day, for a couple of hours each time.

Estimate the flow out of the tank f(t) at all times, even when the pump is working, and estimate the total amount of water used during the day. The accompanying table gives real data, from and actual small town, for one day.

The table gives the time, in seconds, since the first measurement, and the level of the water in the tank, in hundredths of a foot.  For example, after 3316 seconds, the depth of water in the tank reached 31.10 feet.  The tank is a vertical circular cylinder, with a height of 40 feet and a diameter of 57 feet.  Usually, the pump starts filling the tank when the level drops to about 27.00 feet, and the pump stops when the level rises back to about 35.50 feet.