[int_19h]

It's less efficient, sure. But it's eminently practical if your goal is to avoid hydraulic despotism long term.

[MichaelZuo]

It would be so less efficient that you could simply buy a 1000x more water pumps for the same price. No one sane would choose a water pump with a million switches over 1000 of the same pumps with 1 switch each.