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stitches216

Confession: Nosy Neighbor? Vigilante Conservationist?

stitches216
20 years ago

Never did this before: last night, walked up and turned off the faucet in front of a stranger's house.

If there was any premeditation, it was only for an instant, before I acted. The rest was instinct - or insanity.

But NO! What I saw was insanity!

Setting: walking at 11 p.m. Rounded a familiar corner, heard the sound of rushing, splashing water. Thought: Oooo, maybe there's a new pond and waterfall up ahead - I know there's already a nice one a few houses further along. But no: 3 to 5 gallons per minute was running along the curb, pouring into the gutter drain. Run-off from someone's sprinkler.

Now, this was not your ordinary sprinkler set-up. This was one of those oscillating kinds that wave a fan-shaped fountain of little streams back and forth, projecting each little stream 15 to 20 feet. The sprinkler was set SMACK in the middle of a double-wide driveway, set on "full arc" oscillation. So it was watering both sides of lawn on either side of the driveway. But it was also expending about 50 percent of the water supply on the CEMENT! Plus, the lawn was already saturated. After all, it had rained only a few days before. The clay soil holds onto water a good, long time. So at the moment I happened upon the scene, EVERY DROP that was coming out of that sprinkler was lining-up in the wasteful runoff train.

The only stupider arrangement would have been to set the sprinkler in the middle of the street.

No one else was outside. All lights inside looked to be off. No cars in the driveway. No cars, or people, or other sounds anywhere in the neighborhood. I felt it inappropriate, too risky for being unnecessarily upsetting, to walk up to the door at such a late hour. Call me nosy, presumptuous, arrogant, sanctimonious, too quick to look for trouble, whatever - but I was NOT going to just walk on by and suffer that stupidity!

I think my afterthoughts as I stormed away, continuing my walk, were like: (imagining being confronted by someone) Dare ya, TELL me to mind my own business! Yeah, that's EXACTLY what I was doing! Preventing wastes of water like that IS my business...next time my water bill goes up, I'll sue the plumbing right out of your walls, Jack!

Then...(imagining that I had walked by while the sprinkler mis-manager was standing outside, and had the chance to initiate the confrontation)..."You know, the water running down the street there to the drain is as much as is coming out of your sprinkler right now. If you're trying to water the grass, it's got all it's gonna take. I would turn it off, if I were you." [Waiting a moment, then if no favorable response, DefCon 2] "Do you appreciate how much water you are WASTING here?! I do, and I would appreciate it if you would TURN YOUR SPRINKLER OFF!"...[if, after being flipped-off or otherwise ignored further] "I'm going to find out where I can lodge a complaint against you for this waste!" and then walk away.

I did not search this forum or any other for similar occurrences or situations. But I am curious to read of anyone else who might make a similar confession. As always, I can appreciate a diversity of views on what-to-do in situations like last night's - you have read mine.

Comments (19)

  • mudbugtx
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey-maybe they were trying to grow a bigger driveway!LOL! But seriously, once a neighbor across the street had some sort of sudden pipe-bursting thing on the backyard faucet. The water was gushing loud enough to be heard in the street and water was flowing out of the alley and down to the storm drain. I knocked on the door, nobody home. So I went around to the back. The fences in the neighborhood were all 6-8' solid picket, so while trying to peek through the 1/8" openings I saw the problem (the faucet pretty much blew off) and then saw the rottweiller(?) It was late at night so I stayed up for awhile hoping they would come home soon, but had to give up around 12:00. I may be a conservationist but I'm not a daredevil. Fortunately it was fixed by the morning and since I didn't know the people never found out the full story.

  • jmwb
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good for you! I'm guessing they turned the sprinkler on and forgot about it. You've probably saved them an even higher water bill.

  • nomadh
    20 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If you walk by a car with the lights on and the window open dont you help and click them off?

  • conniecat
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    One of my pet peeves is automatic water sprinklers that come on even during a downpour! There are several condominium complexes near where I live and they all have the automatic watering systems. Tomorrow our county is starting mandatory water conservation measures -- and believe me, if those automatic systems come on, I'm turning them in!
    Thanks for letting me vent.
    Connie

  • westtxteach
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Do you think that someone set it up as a prank on your neighbors?

  • big_kitty
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bravo! i t hink you did the right thing.

  • Linda_8B
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Our water rates are soon going to DOUBLE! Yikes! I don't know what we are going to do. I don't have any lawn to speak of, but I DO like to grow plants, mostly natives. And I have blackberry plants and a veggie garden. I'm going to have to reassess my priorities. We're living on a really limited income. Gas prices are ridiculous and our utility bills keep on going up. I know one lady who virtually does without her heat and a/c, but I don't know how anybody could live that way. This year we've had quite a bit of rain, but you can't count on that (very unusual for this part of Texas, where periods of drought-like conditions are common). As for water-wasters, the "water police", water restrictions and fines are getting much more common in this state, where water is increasingly a short commodity with population increases more out of control every year and rampant development everywhere.

  • tuanh
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    please look on the link below for my rain water collecting system,

    Here is a link that might be useful: rain barrels sysytem...

  • Jeanine55
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    If I left mine on I'd be thankful someone turned it off.

  • thedogwoods
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I do not think it was your place to do that. Tresspass???? I would call the police if anyone did such a thing to me.

  • spiros
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That's like the thief who has an auto accident after a robbery and waits for the police to file a report.

  • Aaron__IN
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    the best time to water your lawn is when its raining the more water you can get at one time the more water the roots get got to have about three inches a week here in the hot summer to keep our grass alive i must water every three days for at least an hour. seems like my water bill is almost always about 25 bucks a month in the summer.

  • Luv2gardn2
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think I would have turned it off, and if confronted I would have said," I thought that you might have forgotten to turn it off and I was only trying to help."

    I forgot and left a hose on all night last year. It burst the hose and soaked the yard. It sure wouldn't have hurt my feelings if someone had cut it off for me.

  • mikie_gw
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    so you're the culprit
    Show up in the morning a day after pouring a new driveway at Moms house in Friendswood TX, fresh pour was all dried out and surface cracks and flaking all over - some one had turned off the little sprinkler I had running on it to slow cure the fast curing weather. And to top it off they left permanent shoe prints all over it.

    just kidding

  • cindy_ash
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I would definitely have turned it off. And if someone saw my drip system sprouting a geyser as sometimes happens with this ancient system we have, and knocked on our door to let us know, I would be eternally grateful (tho in this day and age its probably safer to leave a note on the door).

    Hee, I still remember coming home one day to find my neighbors system looking like Old Faithful. The young teens who lived there were frantic, and ran to my car "we don't know what happened and we don't know how to turn it off". I walked up to the door, saw the lever, and pulled. Oh the relief, they were terrified their dad would think they did something wrong (and they learned what to do in an emergency). Anyway the purpose of this tale - we live in a community and we are there to help each other. Sometimes the help is stealth, other times its not. But I see nothing wrong with it.

  • ecocentricsolutions
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Water is not a personal resource--it is a diminishing element that is vital to the health of our natural ecological systems.

    That said, I do believe that due diligence is in order. When the government does not do its job is protecting the community from polluters and squanderers, then a higher-law must be obeyed.

    We delude ourselves if we think that we can waste resources without anyone paying but our grandchildren.

    I understand that many of you don't want to hear this. But many of our actions are pathological, someone must take a healthy stand somewhere.

    Turning off a water-squanderer's gyser is not at all out of line. Water, like air, is a contept that goes far beyond our pathetic little diatribes about personal property rights.

    Of course, I have been called an "extremist" when I insist that people should be held accountable for how their actions affect the world that I live in and love.

    I'll own that distinction with pride.

  • eveningblooms
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have a neighbor that waters her driveway every day. Darnedest thing I've ever seen. She Doesn't have a single plant on her property just a gravel yard, but every morning she out watering her driveway....

  • madspinner
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I guess she doesn't want it to get dirty? That is really odd.

  • midnight_jasmine
    19 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You totally did the right thing. First of all. People should not try to maintain a perfect lawn during a summer drought. That is stupid. The first rains of fall will bring back the lawn in perfect green condition, while saving thousands of gallons of water by not trying to fight nature. But secondly, they obviously forgot about their sprinkler and it is not tresspassing to turn off someones sprinkler, if they are dumb enough to try to grow concrete. Wasting water is a sin. Good for you. I would have done the same thing.

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