this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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What I love so much about the whole “turning the water off when you brush your teeth” debate is how everyone is basically telling on themselves.
The ADA recommends brushing your teeth for two minutes. Do you think anybody sits there and lets the water wash down the drain for two whole minutes? Or more likely does everyone have terrible dental hygiene?
I lived with people who would have full political debates with a tooth brush in their mouth and the tap on.
Said after a tossing half their food away...
Bro unfortunately I do belive people would be careless enough to do that.
Had roommates that when they did dishes would keep the water running instead of filling up the sink. Didn't matter if it was even a few days worth of dishes.
I even mentioned to them about it, they said they just didn't want to put their hands in a sink full of dirty dish water.
People really do be that senseless.
People also have a dishwasher but prefer to do dishes by hand with the water running the whole time because they think the dishwasher wastes water and does a worse job. They don't bother to look up why the dishwasher does a worse job (it's always because they don't put any soap in the pre wash tray) and refuse to accept that they could be wrong.
I'll let the water run but only at a trickle. Enough to get the suds off.
Reason being that to fill the sink with rinse water means that water then has to be drained and replaced after you've rinsed enough dishes that it's gotten soapy or murky itself.
Best option is a faucet with a spray trigger, but in lieu of that, there's ways to do it more responsibly.
Also just a reminder you can adjust the GPM (Gallons per minute) of any faucet with a different regulator. Unscrew the tip of the faucet head, take it to Home Depot or something, and buy one with a lower GPM rate. Kitchen faucets tend to have higher GPM rates, but it may not be necessary for you, so you can reduce it to something less wasteful.
I just rinse all at once at the end real quick. I just fill up one sink of soapy water. Place I'm at now has a spray toggle and I love it.
When I say they let the water run, I mean running it to scrub dishes. Start to finish has the water running full blast.
yes to both. a lot of people my age (low-mid 20s) let the water run and also have bad dental hygiene... I only ever stopped letting the water go down the drain after a few years of paying my own water bill
Lol, at the idea that people don't think I'd let the water run for "two whole minutes"
Right. Two minutes is nothing. I live in Florida my water bill for 4 people is $50. Water conservation is the very very least of my worries.
Maybe if there was a way for me to send my hypothetically unused water over to Cali I'd care more, but.
It's just so silly to think so little of people not brushing their teeth enough but think those same people are beyond letting the sink run.
Me, I brush in the shower so I dunno, that probably means I take 5 second showers or something.
I live alone. My water bill doesn't even meet the minimum charge. It's something like $3 - $10 a month with sewage as well. Living right next to a great lake can have its perks. Lots of cheap clean water is one.
??? Why is it so crazy to imagine people let a tap run for two minutes?
I see you've never experienced a drought
Or lived off grid where they had to pump their water, or used only rainwater harvesting.
Because that is an absurdly long time to watch water run when you’re not using it for anything. I feel like “turn off the tap when brushing your teeth” would be inherently obvious to people brushing the full two minutes.
What’s more likely to me is people brush for about 15 seconds and don’t bother turning it off because it’s such a short period of time.
I feel bad enough when I'm letting the tap run during dishes when it's taking me a second to scrub something lol
I want a foot pedal for my kitchen sink so badly. I feel like it would save a lot of water and I'd never have to touch the sink with my gross hands I need to wash.
Ditto! Why the fuck is this not just how sinks work?
We had these sinks in my elementary school bathroom and I've only seen them in one other public bathroom since. I'm really not sure why it isn't more common.
Get one of those swiveling heads with a shutoff. Game changer for sure.
If you're used to it running, why would they have that thought? You're making the mistake of believing the thoughts you have are commonplace. If someone doesn't think to turn the water off after 30 seconds, 2 minutes isn't that drastically different enough to trigger that thought.
It's really not that long. I leave it on both as I'm brushing, and as I'm swishing mouth wash around. About 3 and a half minutes total. It's not on purpose, it's just because I don't think to turn it off.
You’re wasting, proportionally, a fuck load of water
I hope you will think twice about it from now on. Not trying to be a lesson giver really, it's just very important. The next wars are going to be fought over water and food. Where I live we have running water during 12hrs every three days, because of climate change and corruption (long story) so we have come to appreciate water, especially when it's drinkable (it isn't anymore, those 12hrs of running water are for other uses only).
I'm from southern California. 'Nuff said.
water is precious
Christ, I don't even let the shower run for 2 minutes straight. I get in, wet down, turn it off and lather up. Then rinse off. Might have it on for 2 minutes total.
Shit I run that shit for 20 minutes straight. I tend to zone out in the shower
Damn. I turn the shower on for a few minutes before I get in so the water is right. Glad you're canceling me out.
But then how do you sear the flesh from your bones?
Plus there is LITERALLY ZERO BENEFIT to leaving the water on. It's just pure waste. If I was learning to brush my teeth for the first time, turning off the water would have been the intuitive solution.
For me at least, brushing teeth is highly uncomfortable and the brushing noise from inside my head makes it worse. Running water dampens the noise. I learned to turn off the tap most of the time but I leave it on for when I'm out of mental batteries.
Our water bill is included in the rent, the amount we use doesn't affect it, so I could do that. I don't because why would I, but I could.
However, on a couple occasions I have opened just the hot water tap in the bathroom and let it run for 15 minutes, doors open, to steam up the air. It was winter, very cold, and air moisture content was like 15%, extremely dry.
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I leave my tap running all the time for wayy over 2 minutes. Mainly cos where i live pays for the water and they are complete assholes so i try cost them as much as possible.