Turn Off the Faucet Commercial

[Hikergirl]

Yes, we pay for our usage amount. I've never heard of it being done in a pre-allotted way. Is it determined by your use history, your home or lot size or is it one size fits all?

If they implemented that type of system here I'm sure the allotment would be set to where everyone was bumping up against their limit constantly, both as an attempt to curtail usage and as an extra profit center. In hot and dry summers we would move onto odd and even restrictions on outdoor water usage according to our house numbers to prevent heavy usage spikes putting too much demand on the water system at one time. A few years ago that became the standard for summer months period. Makes sense if you don't want the water system collapsing or far-flung communities left dry altogether. What annoys me is that the workaround is running your automatic sprinkler at four or five a.m. daily, rain or shine. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice when it's been really dry and lawns are becoming stressed and 3 houses alone are green and lush.

I'm not really sure how they figure it out. My subdivision is comprised of all the same size homes on basically the same size lots. I know that we all pay the same in this subdivision. At least I know some people who pay the same as me, so I assume everyone does here. I haven't talked to anyone not living in this neighborhood about their water bill, but I am curious now so I think I'll ask a bunch of friends that live in different parts of our town.

I can understand being more aware of your usage when you are paying for it.

 

[asta]

Oh, we pay plenty of charges in addition to our usage as well. Matter of fact the highest category of charges on our bill is sewerage fees.

Last month my quarterly water bill made me ill. We use 40-percent less water than we did ten years ago because of HE washing machine and changing out toilets and one daughter away at college. My water bills are up 30-percent over the amount we paid then.

I don't have the numbers but I think a large portion of our utility bill is for sewer fees. Our utility district normally reduces our bill in the summer months because the volume of water used in watering lawns does not have to be treated by the sewer plants.

 

[anniemae]

I think it's about being environmentally conscious. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. It's viewed as being wasteful. Kind of like throwing away perfectly fine food "just because." It's your right to throw it out if you bought it, but there are people who can't afford food, so it's kind of wasteful.

 

[cabanafrau]

I don't have the numbers but I think a large portion of our utility bill is for sewer fees. Our utility district normally reduces our bill in the summer months because the volume of water used in watering lawns does not have to be treated by the sewer plants.

Years ago you used to be able to get an extra service hookup connected to a second meter to handle large outdoor usage -- filling swimming pools, which carried different rates. It was very rarely done and has been long gone as an option. I've heard people say they were able to contact the public works and make arrangements for a special usage rate for a certain date to fill their pools without the sewerage charge, but I'm not certain how that worked and I know that's no longer an option either.

I live in Michigan, the Great Lakes State, in Detroit metro area, serviced by the Detroit Water Dept. We pay quite a bit to sustain the water dept. and then our local communities add to the rate to maintain our local water lines. Unfortunately with Detroit's financial woes and how tight our local communities' budgets are, water billing has become a way of boosting revenue.

 

[HM]

We've gone through some droughts in our area that changed the way I use water.

It irritates me when people leave water running. I totally like those ads.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I didn't say I wished to waste water just pointing out that you are wrong when you say its literally money down the drain.

I am not familiar with arrangements such as your water bill.

For my bill, once I tick over 1000 gallons, I am charged for another 1000 gallons. If my family were to brush twice a day, it would be 900 gallons of water a month (5 gallons pp per 30 days for 6 people. 7th has 4 teeth and wouldn't use that much water in a month.)

Someone living alone would still use 150 gallons.

So no, I am not "wrong". I guess it depends on how you look at it.

But that is an awful lot of water to waste. And while we can look at other habits such as showering and washing dishes, that one just seems like a super easy no brainer for which you would reap no benefits from refusing to do.

 

[scrapquitler]

I just watched a commercial about how many people in the world need drinkable water while showing someone letting water run while brushing their teeth. The commercial asks you to turn your faucet off. My question is how does turning off the faucet here help with water needs in other parts of the world. I totally get the need to restrict water usage in an area that is under drought conditions where people share a common water system. But I live in an area that is blessed with plenty of water right now. This is an honest question. I feel like I may be missing something about how the water from my utility system in Tennessee goes to Africa (or some other place) if I use less. What am I missing?

Whatever you are missing, I am, too. Just like when I was a child and my mother told me to eat all my peas because 'there are starving children in China'. Well give my peas to them, then!! One has virtually nothing to do with the other.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't understand how my water use is bad for the environment. The water I don't use stays in a large river that two rivers later flows into the Mississippi and then into the Gulf of Mexico. I have never seen any of these rivers without plenty of water. Flooding is more of a problem here than drought.

Wasting money is another issue but I was not aware of the PP who says we pay for water in 1000 gallon increments. If that is true then I don't think we are even paying for that extra tooth brushing water.

I live in Florida where water levels recede in the hotter months. Especially when there are gaps in the rainfall.

On the flip side, it can also flood.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

We're on a well. The water that goes down my drain eventually makes it back into the local aquifer.

If I take 4 gallons out and put 3 gallons back, it's basically no different than just taking 1 gallon out. Even if there is some loss due to evaporation, that eventually returns to Earth as rain.

I never got this whole notion that anything that goes down your drain is simply gone from existence forever.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't have the numbers but I think a large portion of our utility bill is for sewer fees. Our utility district normally reduces our bill in the summer months because the volume of water used in watering lawns does not have to be treated by the sewer plants.

I don't know ours, but our sewer fees are in proportion to our water usage. We get no breaks unless you prove you filled a swimming pool.

 

[HM]

I don't know ours, but our sewer fees are in proportion to our water usage. We get no breaks unless you prove you filled a swimming pool.

Same here. We have four line items for water/sewer on our water bill (we also have a yard waste line and a line for the yearly storm fee that hits at the begging of summer). The sewer parts are the larger amounts. Which sucks when the water you are using is actually not going in the sewer (Gardening).

 

[asta]

We've gone through some droughts in our area that changed the way I use water.

It irritates me when people leave water running. I totally like those ads.

It is not like you can in any way use the water saved from a system to which you are not connected.

 

[HM]

It is not like you can in any way use the water saved from a system to which you are not connected.

True-ish

It's just that good habits at home will continue if you were to visit an area that is having water woes. I would not feel comfortable over-using water in California for instance. I don't have to be conscious of it because I already have good water use habits.

But, the whole of our world water system is connected but not the level we can see. That rain you got was evaporated from some other place to land on you. You learned all this in elementary school science.

 

[Hikergirl]

I am not familiar with arrangements such as your water bill.

For my bill, once I tick over 1000 gallons, I am charged for another 1000 gallons. If my family were to brush twice a day, it would be 900 gallons of water a month (5 gallons pp per 30 days for 6 people. 7th has 4 teeth and wouldn't use that much water in a month.)

Someone living alone would still use 150 gallons.

So no, I am not "wrong". I guess it depends on how you look at it.

But that is an awful lot of water to waste. And while we can look at other habits such as showering and washing dishes, that one just seems like a super easy no brainer for which you would reap no benefits from refusing to do.

I agree that is alot of wasted water, but not everyone who is leaving the faucet running is wasting money. I can see why someone like you who pays for your usage would be more concerned about what is being left on to run down the drain. I don't leave the water running when I brush my teeth but its out of habit, not a greater sense of protecting the environment or to save money.

 

[asta]

True-ish

It's just that good habits at home will continue if you were to visit an area that is having water woes. I would not feel comfortable over-using water in California for instance. I don't have to be conscious of it because I already have good water use habits.

But, the whole of our world water system is connected but not the level we can see. That rain you got was evaporated from some other place to land on you. You learned all this in elementary school science.

I did learn that in elementary school science but that does not in anyway help drought stricken areas or areas that have not invested in water treatment plants benefit from any water that I do not use unless they run very, very long pipes across the country or around the world.

 

[HM]

You and others are being so literal.
No, it's not going to help those people in Africa or India that are lacking clean water now. And maybe the ads should be a bit more "at home" about what they are trying to attempt.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think the ad is stupid. Whether or not my faucet is running when I brush my teeth has no bearing on a small child in a third-world country. Even the argument that I pay for the water falls flat--you pay for water in 1000 gallon increments, you won't even notice the few cups that flows when you brush your teeth.

According to http://www.glencanyon.org/glen_canyon/water-conservation

• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. Those two to three minutes without the sink on can save two to three gallons of water each day. Also, turn the water off while shaving. Instead, fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of water to rinse your razor. Overall, these two simple adjustments can save you six gallons of water per day – that’s 180 gallons per month!

3 gallons just to brush your teeth per day x 365 days = 1095 gallons.

And I assume that's per person.

 

[bcla]

I get ticked off watching my wife brush her teeth. She doesn't let the water run while brushing, but the way she rinses her toothbrush, she washes the inside, outside of the cup and rinses the entire toothbrush. Also - our bathroom faucet handle is an older pop-up type which is hard to control and doesn't limit the water flow like most newer models. So her default is to to just let it gush while she does this. I can literally see the sink fill up with a gallon while it's still draining and I know it has to be at least two or three gallons.

I can literally do it with about 12 ounces of water or even less. That includes wetting the toothbrush, rinsing out, and cleaning the toothbrush.

As for this commercial - it is rather silly to equate the use of water in the US with water supplies on another continent. Still - there are issues with water availability, and there are some efforts to treat water to make it safe to drink where there aren't municipal treatment options.

I live in California which has its own issues with water. We definitely pay by the unit. If I let water down the drain, it may end up in a treatment plant that discharges into an aquifer, but we don't get that water. A lot of the treated sewage around here drains into San Francisco Bay. Our water comes from far away mountains, so it's not as if there's a direct recirculation of the water. It may be different where there's well water, but even then it costs money to pump that water and it stresses the water table.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

It's not just about the water. It's about the environmental impact of the processes the water goes through before it comes to you and after it leaves. Chemicals used to condition the water for things like pH and hardness, chemicals added to the water such as fluoride, the raw materials used to build and maintain water treatment facilities for pre and post-consumption, the energy used to run those facilities, the energy used to pump that water to you... All of those things create their own environmental impact. The less water you use, the less demand there will be on the front and back end systems and, in turn, less of an impact on the environment.

 

[asta]

It's not just about the water. It's about the environmental impact of the processes the water goes through before it comes to you and after it leaves. Chemicals used to condition the water for things like pH and hardness, chemicals added to the water such as fluoride, the raw materials used to build and maintain water treatment facilities for pre and post-consumption, the energy used to run those facilities, the energy used to pump that water to you... All of those things create their own invironmental impact. The less water you use, the less demand there will be on the front and back end systems and, in turn, less of an impact on the environment.

That does make sense if these supplies are in short supply and need to be rationed in one area in order for them to be made available in another area. Maybe they are, I was not aware. As far as energy, areas with abundant water use dams to generate electricity so energy use is not that critical. Of course there are power grids that make it possible to share that excess power with distant areas that have a shortage of electrical power. But it is harder to construct water pipes in order that water saved in one area is shared over great distances in the same way.