# Gaah! They turned off the water \*while\* I was brushing my teeth **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339 "2009-04-08T01:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/21 "2009-04-09T17:05:48Z")
Sometimes it’s an emergency, and the crews have to turn the water off unannounced. That makes for some horrid situations, to be sure. One lady (similar to **singular1** ) had just begun to wash her hair after perming it. The water department directed her to rush to a gas station and use their bathroom sink. Another lady requested that she not be charged for water during the time the water was off. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/22 "2009-04-09T17:25:33Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > That makes for some horrid situations, to be sure. One lady (similar to **singular1** ) had just begun to wash her hair after perming it. The water department directed her to rush to a gas station and use their bathroom sink. This happened to me, at a salon. The stylist had just finished putting the perm solution on and set the timer. She was rinsing the sink when the water shut off. The water crew said it wouldn’t be back on for a couple of hours. We ended up driving to her mother-in-law’s house in the next town and using her kitchen sink. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/23 "2009-04-10T05:11:09Z")
I lived in an apartment that frequently shut off water for repairs. I started keeping a pitcher of water in the refrigerator. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/24 "2009-04-10T14:54:31Z")
If you live in a house with a basement, in a pinch you could go to the basement and open the faucet for the washbasin: a few gallons of clean water should drain from the rest of the pipes in the house. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/25 "2009-04-10T18:11:44Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > My great aunt was an undertaker. She and the embalmer particularly enjoyed the unannounced water outage… Shit! I gotta ask my dad what would happen!!! You have a cat-couldn’t you just use your cat’s water dish? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Casserole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b77776/32.png) [@Casserole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casserole)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/26 "2009-04-10T21:05:04Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You have a cat-couldn’t you just use your cat’s water dish? 😃 Ha! That’s exactly what I thought when **emmaliminal** mentioned the cat 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/27 "2009-04-10T21:24:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > You have a cat-couldn’t you just use your cat’s water dish? 😃 I’m trying to remember just how thoroughly I sanitized that dish after the cats drowned a mouse in it. Those cats could give Dick Cheney lessons on torture techniques, I tell ya… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339/28 "2009-04-14T05:05:59Z")
We had a water main break earlier this morning. Brown water…ugh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gaah-they-turned-off-the-water-while-i-was-brushing-my-teeth/492339.md?page=1)