"Wasting" water with large tanks

[jaws7777]

I love documentaries and am always looking for new ones to watch. I just watched this one after seeing you mention it here. Very interesting, sad, and I felt so guilty. I really feel bad for those with empty wells out there. I really can’t imagine.
The corruptness of it all is crazy too.

And after them talking about the movie Chinatown so much I think I might just watch that at some point too.

But oh the corruption. What amazed me more than anything was how the state "allowed"all of this to go down. No way did they not pay off those officials. I cant believe this story was never covered by the national media.

Funny thing here that you might all chuckle at...

I found out today from the water company that we've had constant water running for over a week. We investigated and found a leak in our irrigation system.

View attachment 1349902

My mother inlaw went through something similar. The issues wasnt her fault yet shes still on the hook for the money even though the complex she lived in was at fault

 

[tlindsey]

But oh the corruption. What amazed me more than anything was how the state "allowed"all of this to go down. No way did they not pay off those officials. I cant believe this story was never covered by the national media.



My mother inlaw went through something similar. The issues wasnt her fault yet shes still on the hook for the money even though the complex she lived in was at fault

In so many years of paying utility bills especially water is that having the meter constantly running benefits them. So my advice is jump on those leaks from a leaky faucet, toilets. In my area they will not inform you of a leak even though they said they will.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; On my water meter is a small triangle which rotates as water flows thru the meter. I will turn off all water taps and not run the washer or dish washer then go out and watch the triangle. If it is still spinning then I have a leak. Faster the spin the bigger the leak. No spin then pipes are tight.

 

[tlindsey]

Hello; On my water meter is a small triangle which rotates as water flows thru the meter. I will turn off all water taps and not run the washer or dish washer then go out and watch the triangle. If it is still spinning then I have a leak. Faster the spin the bigger the leak. No spin then pipes are tight.

Bingo! Yes excellent point.

 

[jaws7777]

Hello; On my water meter is a small triangle which rotates as water flows thru the meter. I will turn off all water taps and not run the washer or dish washer then go out and watch the triangle. If it is still spinning then I have a leak. Faster the spin the bigger the leak. No spin then pipes are tight.

Nice

 

[magpie]

Thankfully our water company let us know. We were able to fix it easily thankfully, and our numbers stopped rotating. (We don’t have a triangle.)

 

[FINWIN]

Please don't make too much fun of me as I have been mulling this around for awhile in my head and it's a legit concern of mine.

I moved a year ago and my initial plan was to get a larger sized tank, 180+ gallons. But we moved to the high desert and it is just more apparent here that water is a resource that everyone tends to be wasteful with. It's not an indefinite thing. Hell, I don't even have kids but it's giving me some pause to consider even just a 50% WC (and I used to do 75% in my 65 gallon) would be dumping 100 gallons of water down the drain a week.

How do you all deal with this? Does it even cross your mind? Does anyone here save the water from changes to do anything else like water for landscaping? I know you can't potentially drink it but...

I can keep smaller tanks of course (currently love my little 20 long) but the fish I covet most (LJ bichirs, larger cichlids) need larger tanks for life.

OK, opening myself up here for all of the hippie / left wing comments.

Thanks for any thoughtful insight.

Folks have some really good suggestions here for reusing water...you can also use it to condition plants / quarantine for your aquarium! But think of it this way, you can't really waste water...it ends up back in the ecosystem!

 

[Kittiee Katt]

Hello; On my water meter is a small triangle which rotates as water flows thru the meter. I will turn off all water taps and not run the washer or dish washer then go out and watch the triangle. If it is still spinning then I have a leak. Faster the spin the bigger the leak. No spin then pipes are tight.

I don't even know where my water meter is.. I asked the real estate agent and she didn't even know. Praying that our toilet or none of our taps burst because I can't turn the water off if they do.

 

[jaws7777]

I don't even know where my water meter is.. I asked the real estate agent and she didn't even know. Praying that our toilet or none of our taps burst because I can't turn the water off if they do.

You should have a valve located near your incoming water pipe usually near your hot water heater. Look for it because yeah that would totally suck if you ever had an emergency like that

 

[skjl47]

I don't even know where my water meter is.. I asked the real estate agent and she didn't even know. Praying that our toilet or none of our taps burst because I can't turn the water off if they do.

Hello; Clearly I do not know how things are done where you live but I will give you two things common around me.
One is a water shutoff somewhere in the building itself. Mine in in my basement. This shutoff is on the feed line and shuts off all the water to everything in the house.
About 100 feet out in my front yard is the water meter and it has a main shutoff. I have had to use this shutoff twice. Once I had a pinhole leak in the water line in the ground outside the house. Another time I had to replace the pressure reducing valve near the water meter.

You may (and should have) shutoff valves in several places in the home. Such as the lines that feed the toilets, the sinks, the laundry room, the water heater and so on. This way you can stop the water and work on a particular appliance while leaving the water on to everything else.

Question, do you pay the water bill or is it part of the rent? If you pay then find out where the shutoffs are.
Call the local water company. I bet they can tell you where to look for a shutoff valve. (Note- you may need a special tool to turn off a valve in the ground.)
The shutoff valve is at the bottom of the picture. It is in the off position in the picture. The hole to the left is where the water company can put a padlock if you do not pay the bill.