Oh, oh right, you're brushing your teeth...that's fine then. (Mild)

The BBQ Pit
1

Sat in my room, waiting to get into the bathroom at the moment, flatmate’s girlfriend’s currently in there.

I can hear the tap running, and it’s been on for about ten-minutes, running at full flow.

*“Have you left the tap running, FM’s-GF…?”

“No, it’s OK, I’m brushing my teeth…”*

Do some people just think there’s a limitless supply at the other end of clean water, so it doesn’t matter how much you throw down the drain?

They can be the ones to explain to the next generation why there’s no resources left.

2

I have taken the toothbrushing pledge.

3

I have to ask; who raised these people? Water conservation has been in act since before I was born - didn’t anyone ever say to them ‘water is a precious resource - be conservative about it’? It boggles the mind to think that people believe that all of their resources are endless!

4

I always wondered about this. Do people really leave the tap on while brushing teeth? It just seemed so strange that anyone would do that

5

My brother does, and no matter how many times I try to convince him that he should turn it off, since it’s just pouring down the drain and he’s not even using it for anything but background music, he refuses to listen.

6

Nah, he just can’t hear you with the water running.

7

She takes ten minutes to brush her teeth?

I let the tap run while I’m brushing, but I only take about two minutes. The idea is to be vigorous, rinse, be vigorous again, and use one of those brushes that has bristles of different lengths. If I turned the water off, I would be turning it back on almost immediately for the rinse water. Unless I should collect a tumbler of rinse water before I start?

Apparently it works, too. I had my teeth cleaned yesterday. At the start, I asked how long it would take, and they said about 40 minutes. Ended up being 25. He hardly had to do any work on the sides or upper front. Only problem area was the inside of the lower front, where I have a hard time getting a good angle.

Anyway, I’m not thoroughly convinced that letting the tap run while you brush is going to drain the earth dry. Leaving it on indefinitely is dumb, though: perhaps that’s what she did?

8

Some people leave the tap running to conceal other sounds.

9

I gotta ask: Is this the only issue between you and your flatmate’s girlfriend?

10

When I was a kid my parents taught me how to brush my teeth, and I learned that you turn on the water, wet the bristles so the toothpaste would stick, brush, then rinse. It never occurred to me to turn it off until I got married when I was 31. Of course, until I got a Sonicare about 5 years ago, I probably spent 30-40 seconds brushing my teeth, so the water wasn’t running anywhere near 10 minutes.

Now, I’m a water nazi.

11

I shave and brush my teeth in the shower. Is that a good thing?

12

I do it. I promise I’ll stop.

13

There’s definitely no need to leave it running for nearly three decades.

14

Teeth that require shaving are never a good thing.

15

It’s OK though, because I didn’t let it go down the drain. I’ve been saving it in Tupperware. I use it to make soup.

16

Yeah, I do, and I don’t intend to stop. And frankly, it seems strange to me that anyone wouldn’t.

17

I leave it running because I usually shave after I brush. Our water takes a while to get hot so letting it run warms it up so I can shave with warm-hot water. I figure I’d run it to get hot anyway so it doesn’t really make any difference.

18

Well, OK, running the tap while brushing your teeth isn’t the most efficient use of water, but once it goes down the drain, it’s not like it vanishes into a black hole.

Maybe I’m wrong, but you’re in Glasgow? Isn’t that one of the wetter places on Earth?

Admit it, you’re just pissed off because the girl friend spends too much time in the flat and she’s getting on your last nerve.

19

I live in an area where artesian wells flow constantly, and Lake Michigan is yards from my deck. Pardon me if I don’t jump on the “turn off the faucet to conserve water” movement when I’m at home.

Especially after seeing all the water flowing constantly in Las Vegas and Palm Springs.

Leaving it on for 10 minutes is a little silly, tho.

20

Yeah, I do, and I don’t intend to stop. And frankly, it seems strange to me that anyone wouldn’t.