Weird water restrictions in NJ?

Welcome to the wonderful world of politics.

Water restrictions are usually created by people who have nice manicured yards, pools and the like, and send their car out to be washed.

Not that there is anything wrong with having those things... But most "water restrictions" main purpose is to make people feel guilty about using their water and to try and cut down. Its hoped that if enough people do this, it will offset the shortage enough so that they don't have to inconvenience pool owners and other campaign contributors.

Few of the laws I've seen would seem to have a "real" impact on water usage.

 

Well, there is some sense in there, mixed with a little head scratching.

 

If more municipalities would wise up and plumb in treated/recycled water for lawn watering, we wouldn't likely have or need such restrictions. It's certainly seems a better solution than pumping that water back into lakes/rivers.

I think more new developments here in Central FL are requiring this.

 

I think the main thing is...it's kinda hard to drag your lawn to the lawn wash to get it watered..where as with a car there is an alternative to using the community supply.

Fortunately..I have a well.

 

But the point still is that all these things you are complaining about are far worse than a dirty car. If your lawn dies it brings down property values for your neighborhood. If you don't properly maintain your pool, that can bring down the property values (not to mention huge repair bills when the frost/freeze tear the walls apart). And again, once you fill the pool you don't have to do it again, it's filled. All of the above situation can have serious financial downsides. And all of the above are regulated as well (lawn watering at certain times for a certain amount of time, etc)
What is the downside of having a dirty car? Which doesn't even have to be dirty because you can go to any car wash and have it cleaned.
Imagine if everybody thought like you do now, imagine 10's-100's of thousands (maybe millions) of people who are using the city water who decide to say "screw-it" and wash their cars, they each use what maybe 10 gallons of water to wash the car.....and then do it once a week or maybe every other week.
What would you say when you turned on the water in the morning to take a shower and none came out? But at least you'd have a clean car!
Andrew

 

Not many Homes have 2 acres let alone 2 acres of actual lawn. But thats not the point, I see your point where lawn watering is definitely more wasteful.

Mike

 

I didn't know they had water shortage in NJ.
Here in Tucson the water is always a popular topic, because of the lack of it. Few houses and buildings have lawns at all, so that cuts down on the watering quite a bit. I don't know of any water restrictions here at all actually, the only thing I know is that up to a certain amount of use, the water is free. The idea is to get people to use less water by being cheap and staying under the limit. I don't even know what the limit is, so I think the idea backfires, people just use however much water they need and are happy to get a discount...
It always pisses me off to go up to Phoenix or Scottsdale and see all the houses and buildings there have lawns (I think they want it to look like SoCal ). They don't have much more water up there than we do here I think.
/Mike

 

Hey, I agree as well....but at least come up with a realistic argument to the whole thing. As some of you have shown, washing a car doesn't use much water. But washing a car is a luxury item, watering the lawns in the neighborhood is not. Making sure your pool is filled up so it doesn't break apart is not a luxury.

If you can't figure out the "whole" picture of why it's ok to waste thousands upon thousands of gallons of water to water a lawn (which either evaporates and turns to rain at some point, or soaks back to the water table), but not hundreds to wash a car then you'll never understand. But we'll make it simple none the less, the politicians who invoke water restrictions won't be politicians very long if the property value's in their area go down because everybodies house has a dead lawn. It's that cut and dry.

I live in S. Florida which has at times water restrictions almost year round. Washing a car is allowed at certain times during those restrictions. So talk to the people in charge and ask for that.

Andrew

 

Yes I was being sarcastic, in the sense of why the "laws" are passed the way they are. They mean well, but the end result is that it doesn't really solve any problems.

Andrew

 

Jay H, did you know that it can take up to a year for a clear coat finish to set up on a new car. You really don't want to do any polishing or waxing on a car with a clear coat for at least that long. i don't know if your car has a clear coat or not, but it is something to think about. Some of my friends in the paint department at the plant I work advised me of this when I bought my new car about 3 months ago.

Mike