To run the tap while I brush my teeth

[EleanorHooverbelt]

even though I live in Scotland where it rains a lot and I don't get charged for water anyway?

Yes. You are being massively unreasonable. Why on earth would you waste water pointlessly just because you don’t pay for it ?

YABU its a waste of water whether you are charged for it or not. It's unnecessary.

Yes you are.

It doesn’t matter that it rains a lot in Scotland, why waste water for the sake of it?

Yabu but I used to do this til I met my husband. Used to make me feel sick if I didn't. Weird.

Of course YABU! Is this a reverse?

Yabu but I find it hard to remember not to do this. It's the habit i was brought up with.

I won't have any truck with this not rinsing business the kids all get told at school, although my kids don't rinse.

Of course you are. It still takes energy to purify and distribute drinking water which you are wasting unnecessarily

All the water needs to be treated too, it's not just about scarcity of supply. If you've got your own water supply and don't connect to the main sewers then fill your boots, I guess, otherwise you're wasting resources.

Yabu but I find it hard to remember not to do this. It's the habit i was brought up with

Me too. I think that's the problem.

I grew up quite poor and we composted and did all sorts. No food waste. However, I wasn't brought up to think water was a scarce resource. It rained so much it would have been hard to believe really.

Happy to be educated and change my ways though!

Of course you are unreasonable. Why do you even need to ask? It is a total waste of lots of water.

Just wet your brush briefly at the start and then turn the tap off. Turn it on again briefly at the end to rinse your brush and the sink.

That is all that is needed.

Why would you, though? What’s the point of doing that?

I used to do this,then moved to a house with a water metre.

Most people run the tap constantly when washing dishes (only rinsing something once a minute or so). This drives me insane. should be equally discouraged.

I thought everyone left the tap on when brushing there teeth
I always have and it’s never crossed my mind to turn it off. I like the water warm so I have to run it for a few seconds to get it warm and then I leave it running til I’m finished.

Of course you are being unreasonable! Leaving the tap running while brushing your teeth wastes twelve litres of water! Each litre of water costs the same amount of energy to clean as watching 4 hours of TV!

Funnily enough, I coach a team of kids who have just tackled this very issue as part of a project for an engineering competition and came up with an invention to tackle it. Anyone interested can see it here:
waterworksteam.weebly.com/project.html It might also educate you to stop doing it!

I always feel guilty when running the tap longer than necessary :/

Hold on @oreomini you brush your teeth with warm water 😲😲

Each litre of water costs the same amount of energy to clean as watching 4 hours of TV!

Wow, I didn't know that. Really makes you think.

I don't suppose any of us are volunteering to get off MN or stop watching TV to save energy though?

@FASH84 - yes! My teeth are sensitive to cold water so I run it luke warm and brush my teeth 🚰

OreaMini

I hear you on the sensitive teeth! Mine are awful.

Yes you are. It is not difficult to switch the tap off. Total waste of water to not do so.

stick a cup or bowl under it while you are washing to give you an idea of how much water you are wasting - you will be shocked. besides, its not really free - somewhere along the line its been paid for by someone. Like the NHS is.

It's been 10 years but I've got my husband to stop doing this. I wouldn't dream of doing it the way I was brought up.

A good way of saving water is peeing whilst in the shower. That would save far more water than running the tap whilst brushing teeth but how many do that?

Think of it as wasting treated water. It's not the fact there is plenty of water around, it's the energy and resources that go into treating it