Water guzzlers...!!

J

Jamie_D

Greetings

A few weeks ago I witnessed an elderly couple a few doors down washing their concrete driveway and watering the plants for about 10-15 minutes :mad:
The time was 7pm and this is obviously a big NO NO in Melbourne.

So I reported them to the water authority the next day.

Yesterday I saw them again however this time they were at another neighbours front yard filling up 2 large buckets or water :eek:
They carried the filled buckets back over to their house.

I believe they were warned by the water authority and as a result started using other peoples water.

I wrote an anonymous letter to the neighbour mentioning what I saw in their front yard.

What do you do with these people. They obviously don't care about the water restrictions.
This sort of behaviour really sh#ts me!!

Your comments are appreciated.
 
No; just murder them.

Actually, no; maim them.

Although these doinks need horse-whipping, we, as individuals are saving water while places like Starbucks keep their taps running CONSTANTLY, wasting up god-knows how many mega-litres of water per week.

Big business uses way more than we can ever use collectively.
 
Last edited:
Hehe! I can't believe you wrote a letter because you saw someone fill 2 measley buckets with water. Perhaps you need a hobby or something?
 
ethereal said:
Hehe! I can't believe you wrote a letter because you saw someone fill 2 measley buckets with water. Perhaps you need a hobby or something?
Click to expand...
just because its raining in queensland
doesnt mean its raining in victoria
dry in Victoria​
not moist at all​
 
Oh dear, two elderly people struggling with buckets and you get cross. Did you ask them why they were hosing down the concrete? Maybe someone had been sick, maybe there was cat or dog or possum poop - entirely legitimate and legal reasons.
 
it think it's a mindset from the days of 20-40 years ago of abundance that they can't get over.

we have our water piped hundreds of kilometers from a severly depleted murrary river - which is on the news almost every second night, so no one can claim ignorance. but the only lush grass gardens in town are those that belong to elderly people. the rest of us just have decorative stones and a few succulents (or a jungle of brown weeds - depending on the mentality).

technically, in this section of town, we are allowed to wash off the driveways and path because of the supposed dust from the steel mill, but morally i think it's wrong with the river is such a state.
 
Pushka said:
Oh dear, two elderly people struggling with buckets and you get cross.
Click to expand...

okay - it might seem petty but they are:

a) breaking the law by watering.
b) stealing from their neighbours.
c) if everyone had the same mentality then there would be no drinking water.
c) it might be raining like heck on the east coast but we've had the dryest spring in 26 years. there is just "no" water.
 
I did my bit to save water by getting the house replumbed so that the hot doesn't go all the way around the entire house and back to the bathroom. It now goes 50cm through the roof straight to the shower! Imagine all the water that will be saved by not having to let the shower run for 5 minutes first before you can get in!
 
To keep it in perspective - 15 minutes of hosing = a woman shaving her legs in the shower. 2 buckets of water WEEKS later = 3 flushes of the loo. Hardly a big deal. Nowhere near as irritating as nosy, interfering neighbours.
 
When councils ban swimming pools in back yards then I will take it seriously.

This elderly couple probably get a lot of pleasure from their garden and I bet it takes a lot less water than the next person's pool! Watering for 15 mins here and there will only keep things alive.
 
Get a bucket, reuse grey water or something if they are elderly and cannot afford those grey water tanks.
Hosing down concrete driveway is a big no no and has been for ages.
People are showering in buckets so that they can use the water they collect for their garden.
 
I'm sorry but I think this is terrible. If you feel strongly enough about this go out and talk to them in person but don't ring the authorities or, even worse, write anonymous letters!! What's wrong telling them (in person or a signed letter) that you feel strongly that everyone should do their bit so Melbourne doesn't run out of water and if they wanted some help with thinking about how to reduce their water consumption. You might have had some enjoyable interactions rather than a neighbour who now feels stalked!!

Our elderly neighbours hosed their garden all through the water restrictions. Not excessively but they never carrier buckets of water like I did but then I'm half their age and I saw that as my weight-bearing exercise for the day ;).

We spent money on water tanks and plumbed them into the washing machine and loos but we are DINKs and their are poor pensioners and yes, probably of the age where they don't really understand and/or care about those regulations. I reckon we saved enough water for both households and overall Brisbane consumption went down incredibly efficiently so obviously most people did their bit (or more than required) to contribute so we could cope with the odd black sheep.

Cheers

kaf
 
It drives me crazy when I see people doing their washing up under a running tap instead of filling up the sink.

Let the water run for a while while you gather together your washing up, then squirt some detergent on one plate, give a rub/scrub, then run it under the tap, put it in the rack then get the next plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon whatever and repeat the process. Takes ages and wastes heaps of water. I get really agitated. I can feel my nerves starting to fray and my temp started to rise as I try to stop myself from saying something (you just can't with some people).

I once had someone (a bloody annoying know it all)tell me they had a better way of washing up and proceeded to do the running water thing after my protests of I didn't want to know about it. When they finished I said, "you've just wasted heaps of water and I have to pay for that." Their answer was, "I don't pay for water, how come you pay for it?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing and explained that their water is part of the rent they pay on their flat whereas I get charged for any water I use. I also explained that flat or house - it doesn't matter - there isn't an endless supply of water and nobody should waste it if there is an alternative. AND haven't they been hearing all the water saving messages on the radio and TV????!!!
These people also hose off their concrete balconies.

Not meaning to sound racist (and I'm not!), but I've found it's people from other countries/cultures that seem to be the biggest wasters. Surprising too because the people I'm thinking of come from countries with much poorer water supplies and hotter weather than us. Don't know what they're thinking. Australia - the land of plenty maybe?

Olly
 
There are just far too many ambiguities in the current water management policy for me to worry about old people hosing down some concrete. For instance 1kg of beef uses 50,000lt of water. So a typical serve of around 200g would use 10,000lt. That's the amount used by the grass and grains that the beast consumes. A kilo of clean wool takes 100 to140,000lt simply to grow the fibre, without calculating the amount needed to clean it then manufacture cloth. Wine will use 270lt per bottle. Paper manufacture is also water intensive so a rough estimation of 1,000lt for a 200g roll of kitchen paper.
If we are serious about water then we should be evaluating our lifestyle, not just blaming the easy target, the home gardener.
 
ethereal said:
Hehe! I can't believe you wrote a letter because you saw someone fill 2 measley buckets with water. Perhaps you need a hobby or something?
Click to expand...

Perharps you need to read properly.... they were 'washing' their driveway before the letter was written. ;)

I have family members who make their kids share baths, and then hose out the bath water onto their plants to save water...and then you have mindless people who only care about themselves... I'd write a quick letter too. Doesn't take long in this modern world of email and technology. ;)
 
Our water usage is way down compared to the Brisbane average, about 1/3rd so surely that means we should be able to use a bit extra when required, but no, apparently we cant.

I need to desperately wash the boat of as it has 3 years worth of crud and dust on it and I cant continue with the build until its squeeky clean, but the rules say no go and 50ft x 24 ft x15 ft high is just to big to do with a bucket.

I would usually do a wash down every 3 months, not 3 years.

I will have to do it before the dobbers and council start work.

Meanwhile at the nearby new housing estate they have water trucks wetting everything down to prevent dust getting in peoples houses


Dave
 
last week I wondered about the water trucks wetting down building sites in Melbourne,
vacation -Melbourne is warmer than some:D places -4[sup]o[/sup] expected high today of 2[sup]o[/sup]​
and asked, the damp down water in Melbourne is(was -in this instance)(dont want to give credit where stupid is more common) effluent from the settling tanks at Melbourne Water Werribbee treatment center, 99%clean but I don't want to drink it, don't mind eating the veges grown in it, did for years before I knew about it, and for years after, just don'wanna drink it.
 
lizzie said:
okay - it might seem petty but they are:

a) breaking the law by watering.
b) stealing from their neighbours.
c) if everyone had the same mentality then there would be no drinking water.
c) it might be raining like heck on the east coast but we've had the dryest spring in 26 years. there is just "no" water.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Here's a story;

There was this little town in Europe which was kept alive through dairy farmers in the district.
As a tribute to the farmers, and as testament to their town, the Mayor decided to have built a fountain in the town centre, and it was to be totally of milk flowing through it.
It was agreed that every farmer would donate 1 bucket of milk to fill the fountain's supply.
On the day the fountain was to be opened, the Mayor pushed the button at the opening ceremony and out flowed a beautiful fountain of.........water.

You see; every farmer thought they would substitute their bucket of milk with a bucket of water. Who would notice?
 
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