Use Not, Waste Not!

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One of my kids brought home some little suction-cuppy doo-dad from the NYC Department of Water (I didn't look up the name, so please don't complain if that's not quite it!) that admonished us to take shorter showers to conserve water. She stuck it on the glass shower stall. The first thing I did was to have her take it down. "I'm not," I explained, "going to have New York City bureaucrats badgering me in the privacy of my bathroom."

The second thing I did was to note their bizarre slogan: "Running water is wasted water."

So, the very department charged with supplying us with water is telling us that any use of their product whatsoever is wasteful! Why don't they just close the mains above the Bronx and stop all that waste tomorrow?

UPDATE: Now, you may be tempted to reply, "Gene, you know what they mean -- don't let water just run down the drain without using it." But think of the context: this is about showers! "Look, mate, I'm not failing to use the water, I'm bloody well showering, aren't I?"

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