# Leaving the tap running while brushing **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2006, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214 "2006-05-03T10:45:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214/41 "2006-05-06T22:26:15Z")
> [@marginal prophet](#): > > You don’t start the water until after you’re done brushing. Why would you? To wet your toothbrush before you put the toothpaste on. Otherwise, the bristles are too stiff and could damage the enamel on your teeth (or at least that’s what my dentist always told me). ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214/42 "2006-05-06T23:49:48Z")
We used to run the tap in the old days because of the sediment settling in the pipes overnight. This ain’t a problem nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214/43 "2006-05-07T02:07:54Z")
I turn off the water when scraping the teeth, I also turn off the shower to soap up. I turn the water off and on when Im rinsing dishes at the sink as well. We have pletntiful and excellent tasting groundwater. Still I hate to waste it, and it seems like so much is left to run down the drain for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214/44 "2006-05-07T07:55:53Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > Don’t be so quick to assume that after going down the drain it’s “back into the system”. It depends upon where your system obtains the drinking water from in the first place. If the water comes from a nearby river, ok, it is “back in the system”. Or if you live in an area where underground aquifers recharge, ok. However, for example, some of our aquifers here are water bodies “trapped” underground and do not recharge. Therefore, if I run well water unnecessarily I _am_ wasting it. > > Also, in those which do recharge, it’s good to try to keep usage below their recharge rate: Good points. I live in Las Vegas, drought central. However, on a recent television ad from the water department, they said that long showers, baths, dishwashers, washing machines and the like were not a problem and it is not necessary to cut back as that water was going back into our main source of water - Lake Mead (of course, filtered and cleaned first.) The main waste of water is in garden and watering grass and plants. That is water that is then “gone” and cannot be recycled. So, although I have never been in the habit of leaving the water on while brushing teeth, at least here in the drought capitol of the southwest, the water district is paying money on television ads to tell us not to worry about water that is used and going back down a drain. Just cut back on watering gardens. Oh, and they have also said a swimming pool loses far, far less water in evaporation and spillage than an average lawn requires and they would prefer people to have a swimming pool than a grassy backyard in their plan for water conservation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leaving-the-tap-running-while-brushing/355214.md?page=2)