diff --git a/cpp/data/common/include/EigerDefinitions.h b/cpp/data/common/include/EigerDefinitions.h
index 8a834be..f054bfe 100644
--- a/cpp/data/common/include/EigerDefinitions.h
+++ b/cpp/data/common/include/EigerDefinitions.h
@@ -43,8 +43,9 @@ namespace Eiger {
 
   // EigerFan related constants
   const int MORE_MESSAGES = 1;
-  const int RECEIVE_HWM = 100000;
+  const int RECEIVE_HWM = 100000;  // High water marks for the main receiver thread
   const int SEND_HWM = 100000;
+  const int WORKER_SEND_HWM = 10000;  // A lower high water mark for the worker threads
   const int LINGER_TIMEOUT = 100;  // Socket linger timeout in milliseconds
 
   const std::string CONTROL_CMD_KEY = "msg_val";
diff --git a/cpp/data/eigerfan/src/MultiPullBroker.cpp b/cpp/data/eigerfan/src/MultiPullBroker.cpp
index 8fc1cd1..89f2cb8 100644
--- a/cpp/data/eigerfan/src/MultiPullBroker.cpp
+++ b/cpp/data/eigerfan/src/MultiPullBroker.cpp
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ void MultiPullBroker::worker_loop(std::string& endpoint) {
   // threads on the context is not sufficient.
   zmq::context_t source_context(1);
   zmq::socket_t source_socket(source_context, ZMQ_PULL);
-  source_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_SNDHWM, &SEND_HWM, sizeof(SEND_HWM));
+  source_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_SNDHWM, &WORKER_SEND_HWM, sizeof(WORKER_SEND_HWM));
   source_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_LINGER, &LINGER_TIMEOUT, sizeof(LINGER_TIMEOUT));
   source_socket.connect(endpoint.c_str());
 
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ void MultiPullBroker::worker_loop(std::string& endpoint) {
   // The sink sockets must use the context from the main thread to use the inproc://
   // protocol. If it uses a different context the client will not see the messages.
   zmq::socket_t sink_socket(*this->inproc_context_, ZMQ_PUSH);
-  sink_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_SNDHWM, &SEND_HWM, sizeof(SEND_HWM));
+  sink_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_SNDHWM, &WORKER_SEND_HWM, sizeof(WORKER_SEND_HWM));
   sink_socket.setsockopt(ZMQ_LINGER, &LINGER_TIMEOUT, sizeof(LINGER_TIMEOUT));
   sink_socket.connect(this->sink_endpoint_.c_str());