Would You Report an Over-waterer?

I would report, not talk to him. If he refuses to stop after you talk to him, and you report him, he'll know it was you.

I assume you are on water restrictions like we are. Yes, I would report it bc this has gone on far to long. I don't like to do things like this either, it's very upsetting, but you have to do what you have to do.

Where did he move from? When I moved to texas years back (don't live there now) I watered the grass with a sprinkler and received a ticket to my shock. I not only didn't know I wasn't suppose to be doing it, I had never heard of water restrictions coming from a state (Mich) with plenty of water.

i'm not the one to ask, i personally would NEVER spend what so many people do on their lawns. maybe a touch up here or there, or some water if it is really dry and dying, but that's it....i grew up in the country and it just baffles me that people rake up leaves lol....that's nature doing what it's supposed to do, people! lol!

i don't know, maybe look into the laws and see if you can leave an anonymous tip??

Absolutely and I have before, too. I live in drought land. We ALL need to be careful with this precious resource. In our area, you just receive a notice and then the water dept. follows up.

Added: if he's using a manual sprinkler/hose, he's probably just forgetting it's on.

Your utility company or conservation office might have a publication about recommended watering practices for your area. You could start by sticking some of these on his door or by giving them to him yourself. Some people don't know that their lawn can survive with less water. Some people are gone all day and don't realize their sprinklers are not on the schedule they thought they were on.

yes or walk over and turn it off. I mean that is just beyong gross usage, I am not usually in your business kind of gal, but water that is everyones business.

In fact my nieghbor likes to keep an eye on my watering, he will tap on is watch right on the cut off time if I am out with the hose. LOL, Love bob. We both have soaker hoses now. I kind of miss our watering wars.

Yes and I wouldn't say anything to him bc if you do, he doesn't stop and then you have to report him, he'll know it was you. I don't think he needs some handholding and you need to worry about how a report will impact him. He's not going to get arrested I'm sure. This is ABSURD and should be stopped asap.

Just did this about six months ago. Our neighbors run their sprinklers constantly, even in winter. Our side yard was getting flooded after a good two-hour soak. I tried to talk to the neighbors about it but never caught them at home, so I called the city and they sent someone out right away to turn off their sprinklers. Couldn't have been easier.

The way I was going to approach is, "It looks like your sprinklers are broken. The one near our yard has been running for over two hours. I thought you'd want to know something is wrong with the settings." I figured playing dumb was better than being accusatory. You might give that a try with him.

Do you have city or state regulations on watering? Where I live it is only legal to water before 7am and after 11pm.

First, I would go talk to the guy before throwing him under the bus. Maybe he is not aware of the rules?

If he continues to over-water, I would call the local water utility authority and let them know.

Yikes, how does he afford this? The city may already be aware of this, as they can identify high water usage. Is Arlington on Stage 2 or 3 water restrictions? In Dallas we are only allowed to water Sun and Thurs after 6pm, and that's more lenient than a lot of surrounding areas. They can fine us and/or turn our water off for violations. If my neighbor was consistently watering all night while the rest of us are abiding by the laws to conserve resources, I'd be likely to report him. If he were only watering on the days allowed, I'd let it go as technically abiding by the law.

Doesn't his arm get tired holding the hose 12 hours per day?

Yes...
He might not know how to change the time settings...
Maybe?
LBC

YES!!!
world war III will be fought over water.
this country is crazy. we are so used to endless supplies of it that we don't even think about it any more. i'm as guilty as anyone else of letting the faucet run for 5 minutes to heat up the water, or standing luxuriating in the shower for much longer than i need to.
but at least we HAVE water on the east coast.
i get scared every time i head west and see the colorado and virgin rivers. absolute insanity.
does your town not have inspectors? most water-strapped communities have people who drive around to check on this stuff!
khairete
S.

Where I used to live, if you watered like that, you were just asking for a specific fungus to invade your yard. You might research that and go talk to him about it.

I don't know if reporting him would do one bit of good if there is no drought ban currently in place. But it might make you feel better to try.

Dawn

I would definitely report it but DO NOT talk to him about it, just call. I learned the hard way not to approach your neighbors about matters like this. I nicely approached one of our neighbors one day about using the leaf blower extremely late into the night (when my kids are trying to sleep) and he went crazy on me. Threatened to beat up my husband and all kinds of crazy thing (he was clearly having a bad day). So him and my husband ended up getting the cops called on them because they were yelling back and forth. It was nuts. The police came out and told us never to confront your neighbors, as petty as it may sound just to call them and let them handle it. I am definitely taking that advise from now on, lesson learned.

I would talk to my neighbor before doing something like that. Have a friendly chat about it. Tease him about how high his water bill must be. Tell him you have environmental concerns and make him aware of the reccomended way to water.
If it makes you feel any better.....The lake was down because we were in a record breaking drought! Levels are great now because we have had big rain this year. When he over waters and it runs down the driveway, it still goes down the gutter and back into the system. The water isn't completely lost.

I would and I have.

I also talk to the person and let them know they might want to check their system since they are over watering so much. Since you only need 15min/zone (or so) or else it is just a waste of water & money.

Report him, no. I would go over and talk to him.

That way he knows it makes you uncomfortable and you may find out why he does it.

Unless there is a ban on it right now I don't think anything can be done about it. Once there is which I am sure wont be long then yes that would be the time to do it. What took the lakes down was not mainly because of the over watering it was the high heat that we had. And he's the one that will pay for it in his water bill!

For the sake of our future and the future of our children, PLEASE report him!! People waste water like it's nothing and it absolutely disgusts me. Fresh water won't last forever! You definitely need to report him.

Now you all know I usually hate tattlers and tattling in adults. However, on this one, I would tattle....