@OP_Zed
True, though there is an issue with that:
- Available materials, knowledge, skill sets, and equipment to manufacture the necessary pieces for the pumps.
Our madlad over here has had to figure out how to do things and as the population rolled in, they helped him out with their own knowledge. Building water pumps is a really technical issue and while Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome both figured it out, they had years of research from various thinkers on a wide range of subjects.
This is even going into what it will take to manufacture hoses with what he has available either, especially the reinforcement those hoses will need to withstand the pressures that water will need to get up to to combat fires.
He'll have to basically experiment with and invent a crap tonne of stuff get the equipment needed to build the pieces for the pumps in the first place.
Edit:
I some-fucking-how missed the Water Magic part of your post, my bad on that.
Any way, the answer to that is most likely so that everyone can get involved with fighting fires regardless of whether or not they use magic, which more than likely has a side-effect of conditioning them to stay calm in the event of disasters.