Urban networks must hold a minimum residual pressure — typically 100 kPa at 12.5 to 25 litres per second — at any firefighting point, without warning, and at the highest, most disadvantaged point in an elevated zone. A booster must sustain that pressure under any fire flow, respond the instant demand appears, and avoid over-pressurising the lower network. A conventional centrifugal pump, locked to a fixed head–flow curve, cannot do all three: sized for peak fire flow it over-pressurises at domestic rates; sized for domestic efficiency it loses head as fire flow rises. The usual fix is more plant — pressure-reducing valves, variable-speed drives, duty/assist/standby sets and the controls to coordinate them. At high fire flow, suction-head demand rises steeply, and once it exceeds what is available, achievable head collapses and cavitation risk increases when full performance is needed.

The MPR™ (Multi-Phase Rotor) pump resolves this without much of that plant. Operating on a pump plane rather than a fixed curve, it adjusts flow and head largely independently. A single pressure sensor at the highest point holds the required 100 kPa from overnight minimum through peak fire flow, without over-pressurising the lower network and with less need for a downstream valve or a separate fire-duty set. The required head remains available at high flow without the same cavitation risk. A single MPR™ set — duty and standby, controlled from that sensor — can cover the full domestic-to-fire range in place of a multi-pump, multi-valve booster, at lower complexity, capital cost and maintenance burden. Holding only the minimum compliant pressure also cuts leakage: a 10% drop in average pressure typically removes 10–15% of losses, and dynamic control has delivered three to five times the reduction of a fixed fire-flow setting. Benefits are network-specific and need confirming by modelling and pilot measurement.