Dear PoP – Wasted Water?
20 October 2009 10:59 AM | By Prince Of Petworth in Dear PoP 
Paris sidewalk, originally uploaded by wineaux.
“Dear PoP,
I leave for work at a pretty ungodly hour every day, so I’m not sure if many people see the things that I do. I see property management companies hosing down sidewalks the size of entire city blocks everyday. Considering the threat of low fresh water supplies nationally and globally, I was wondering what people think about legislation to prevent wasting water like this? Two specific examples are the Highland Park Apartments and the Small Business Administration in SW.”
A reader asked a similar question last April though somehow the discussion got diverted to the issue of spitting.
As you can see in the photo above, from Paris, folks clean sidewalks with water all over the world. Why is it such a common practice? If they use recycled water then is it ok? Does anyone know if recycled water is used for this purpose in DC? Would you support legislation to block the practice in DC?
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20 October 2009 11:08 AM | SG Said:
Water is a highly, highly local issue. In this region, we experience no water shortages. Only in periods of severe drought do we have to curb water usage. And water is not a good like oil that is valuable enough to be efficiently transported to areas that need it (ie we can’t export water to LA or AZ). So my answer is that so long as they’re paying for their water usage, I don’t see any great issue here. In fact, I’m just happy the city’s sidewalks (outside of more ghetto residential areas) are as pristine as they are, so by all means, keep squirting the sidewalks!
20 October 2009 11:12 AM | Anonymous Said:
I see workers outside of the ESPN Zone washing the sidewalks every morning. My guess is that a major reason they do this stems from inadequate public restroom facilities. So, it seems like it might be a better use of money/resources to tackle that issue than to unnecessarily waste water.
20 October 2009 11:23 AM | Anonymous Said:
The supply and demand of water is regional.
Arid western states have more concerns and of course areas south of the Everglades in south Florida that haven’t snow covered mountains all around them to count on every spring thaw.
The site of our nation’s capital wasn’t chosen by accident.
Urban life of concrete and asphalt requires more sanitation than other environments.
20 October 2009 11:28 AM | Anonymous Said:
Agreeing with the posts above, but I also want to add that conservation is always important, regardless of supply.
Do we know for sure that they’re not spraying with grey water or with water from a rain collection system? It’s possible.
20 October 2009 11:35 AM | ontarioroader Said:
A good number of the building managers of apartments/condos on Wisconsin and Connecticut Avenues hose of their sidewalks daily. It was a pet peeve of mine when commuting by bike to Bethesda years ago. Nothing like a nice misting of water on a 40 degree morning. Anyway, it’s really just a matter of laziness and cost/benefit. Sweeping would get the sidewalk 99% as clean, but it takes longer and involves effort. Water is cheap by comparison. This would be a good use of greywater/rainwater if and when building start incorporating more advanced plumbing and water recycling systems.
20 October 2009 11:46 AM | T.n Said:
Who says its “Fresh water”?
20 October 2009 11:49 AM | TonyS Said:
just what we need! legislation! Better yet… cant we sue these people somehow?
20 October 2009 11:55 AM | dreas Said:
I would definitely support a ban on sidewalk washing (with “fresh” water – I could care less if it’s collected rainwater), as well as one on leaf blowers. DC has enough particulate in the air due to traffic; blowers just add more – not to mention that they’re loud and generally used at some absurdly early hour.
20 October 2009 11:57 AM | Kalorini Said:
I’ve seen some water conservation ads on the S-line buses, highlighting the wasted water used during this very practice. Choose a broom instead!
20 October 2009 12:02 PM | monkeyrotica Said:
So you’re replacing the pee smell with a chlorinated pee smell. Kinda like covering b.o. with Hai Karate. You’re better off just getting used to the pee smell. You can start by spending more time in McDonalds next to the hobos. That, or taking the X2.
20 October 2009 12:04 PM | E Said:
I second ontarioroader! Water shortage isn’t a mid-Atlantic problem, but paying to clean it up sure is. A less intensively-processed greywayer system would be great for such purposes (among others). Alas, that’s expensive to put in too.
20 October 2009 12:14 PM | Angela Said:
Perhaps a better solution than regulating the practice is charging people to use water….causing businesses that hose down their sidewalks and homes that keep excessively green lawns in the summertime to think twice about wasting water on such things.
20 October 2009 12:24 PM | TonyS Said:
yes! we should start charging people to use water! why hasn’t anyone thought of that?
20 October 2009 12:45 PM | Chris Said:
Charging people to use water? That will never fly!
20 October 2009 12:49 PM | Herb Said:
You can charge me for my water when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.
20 October 2009 12:56 PM | Andy (2) Said:
This drives me crazy! I second the call to use a frick’n broom.
I don’t know if DC has a burn ban but in Seattle there are such things when the air quality gets bad. DC shoudl do the same for sidewalk washinging – anytime it rains you can’t wash the sidewalk for three days. That would cover most of the summer and a good chunk of the winter.
Does anyone find it ironic that these same building managers can wash a sidewalk but they can’t salt or shovel it?
20 October 2009 1:12 PM | Buck Turgidson Said:
Washington DC sits next to a fresh water river. I’m pretty sure we can afford to use some trivial amount of it for sanitation purposes.
The larger issue, indeed, is WHY we need to hose human waste off of our sidewalks every morning. I blame the abysmal availability of mental health care for the indigent, which leads to our misnamed “homeless” problem (if you’re psychotic, substance-addicted, and unable to care for yourself, not having a “home” is a mere symptom, not the cause of your problems).
Oh, and having an adequate number of public bathrooms wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
20 October 2009 1:18 PM | E Said:
@ Herb, Chris & Tony: I’m pretty sure what Angela means is that what we pay for water isn’t nearly what it costs to clean it. Your water bills are subsidized, and greatly. If you paid full cost, you might think twice about how much you use.
20 October 2009 1:24 PM | Anonymous Said:
I am all for legislation banning such water waste. I cringe every time I walk by people washing sidewalks with water, not to mention the puddles they leave behind to be caught by summer sandals and go right onto your work clothes.
But there is something else besides legislation – I don’t know if small, local businesses do this or not as I only tend to see it around larger buildings and restaurants, but at least those favorite businesses that get our support should be held accountable to stop wasting their water for the sidewalks.
20 October 2009 1:34 PM | AA Said:
This pisses me off on a regular basis. Its not like they only do it after someone pukes, craps, etc… its something that condos, apartment complexes, businesses do on a regular weekly basis. Some places do it EVERY day, just for a few leaves, crumbs, etc. It is SO wasteful and it upsets me to no end. Its pure lazyness, get a broom and sweep, you water wastin’ jerks! Its on thing if it were say, a pool deck where people walk around barefoot, but there is no need when we wear shoes and there isn’t some sort of biohazard out there.
20 October 2009 1:45 PM | Mr. T in DC Said:
I have no problem with the regular hosing down of our urine and feces-encrusted sidewalks, using a very small quantity of water in a region with an ample supply of it. I would like to see property owners and municipalities go beyond that, even. Wads of gum should be scraped or steamed off, cigarette butts picked up, loose pavement removed/replaced, etc. Our sidewalks should be clean and inviting.
20 October 2009 1:45 PM | NAB Said:
If you owned a business and the sidewalk in front of it smelled like piss, you might find a way to get over your ill-conceived moralizing.
20 October 2009 1:50 PM | Brian Said:
@ Buck Turgidson…while i don’t disagree that mental health can cause homelessness, the reverse is just as true. it isn’t always the case that a person is homeless because they’re crazy. in fact, the opposite is just as true. homelessness can lead to mental health issue.
20 October 2009 1:51 PM | Eric in Ledroit Said:
all of this anger about sidewalk washing is bizarre. This is not just to clean urine off the sidewalks – it’s by far the most efficient way to get dirt off the sidewalks. We’re not in a drought, the water goes right back to the Potomac without adding additional pollutants, and it keeps the city clean. As someone who used to work at a suburban grocery store and hose off the sidewalk out front everyday I can tell you it is far more effective than using a broom at removing dirt and other stains.
20 October 2009 2:14 PM | Ledroit Pork Said:
Seriously. I think people are just looking for something to complain about. If they were using brooms or leaf blowers, people would complain about breathing in the particulate matter. And if they were using an industrial vacuum, people would complain about the noise and the electricity or gasoline usage.
20 October 2009 2:23 PM | Anonymous Said:
“This is not just to clean urine off the sidewalks – it’s by far the most efficient way to get dirt off the sidewalks. We’re not in a drought, the water goes right back to the Potomac without adding additional pollutants, and it keeps the city clean.”
OK, maybe in CH and Petworth you’re hosing urine off the sidewalks, but I doubt that’s the case where I’ve seen it in Georgetown. Or upper NW. But dirt? You really need to hose dirt off the sidewalk every day? It’s for walking on, for chrissake, you’re not eating your lunch there. And urban runoff is a HUGE contributor to water pollution. Heavy metals, fertilizer, motor oil, all sorts of crap goes straight from the storm drains into the Anacostia. Enough runoff happens when it actually rains – no need to add to it by hosing down sidewalks every day.
20 October 2009 2:29 PM | Dittle Said:
I agree with LeDroit Park. So as long as we are not experiencing a water shortage, I don’t see a problem with hosing down the sidewalk in front of a business.
20 October 2009 2:43 PM | ShermanAveGuy Said:
Better to hose it down every day. Otherwise, you end up shocking the system when it rains (because you have all of that build-up).
20 October 2009 3:01 PM | spookiness Said:
Paris is smart. IIRC, they have sort of a dual sewage treatment system. They actually have a sewer tour, and I learned this there, but that was about 15 years ago.
Some water is treated, but not to potability. This water gets used for street cleaning, fountains, and other utility uses. So for water supply, they have a drinkable system and a non-drinkable system.
Makes complete sense, and in dry areas you often see “gray water” systems that make use of every drop.
20 October 2009 3:06 PM | SHAMU Said:
How are you going to clean the bird sh*t off the sidewalks, then? You going to lick it off?
20 October 2009 3:09 PM | Anonymous Said:
this is something that used to bother me a lot when i walked to work and it wasn’t because i ended up splattered with dirty water, though that didn’t help. it is a waste of water, regardless of whether we are in a water crisis or not. we don’t have to spend just because we can now. also, to say that the water goes right back into our rivers “without adding additional pollutants” is just wrong. as anonymous 2:23 said, all kinds of things are on the sidewalks–that we can see, like cigarette butts and oils, and things we can’t see, like fertilizers, that go right into the rivers.
20 October 2009 3:14 PM | Anonymous Said:
amazing. we’re complaining about people cleaning things! i love america!
20 October 2009 3:19 PM | Who Cares? Said:
Water shortages are regional issues, as has been mentioned by several people above. Here in the mid-Atlantic, we’re doing just fine. The money that people pay for water usage covers the collection of this water in sewers, its treatment, and its reintroduction into the water supply.
I’m all for living green and conservation, but the trend towards sustainable living doesn’t apply to every resource on the planet in every circumstance. I’d encourage anyone who deems washing sidewalks as wasteful to read a bit about the nature of the modern riparian city and the modern urban water cycle.
20 October 2009 3:35 PM | Darrell Said:
The spraying doesn’t bother me one bit (for all of the valid reasons listed above), but I do enjoy asking the sprayer “how’s it growing?” whenever I have a chance.
20 October 2009 4:19 PM | PetworthRes Said:
“Charging people to use water? That will never fly!”
Uh, do you people not get bills from DC WASA? You definitely get charged for water usage, though apparently it’s not enough to keep people from washing the sidewalks when they’re too lazy to use a broom.
When I first planted my garden I was paying $100/month to keep the garden watered…thankfully once the plants got established they really didn’t need much more than the rain provides…
20 October 2009 4:19 PM | PetworthRes Said:
“Charging people to use water? That will never fly!”
Uh, do you people not get bills from DC WASA? You definitely get charged for water usage, though apparently it’s not enough to keep people from washing the sidewalks when they’re too lazy to use a broom.
When I first planted my garden I was paying $100/month to keep the garden watered…thankfully once the plants got established they really didn’t need much more than the rain provides…
20 October 2009 4:40 PM | Dave Said:
Uh, I think you missed the joke.
20 October 2009 5:51 PM | Eric in Ledroit Said:
“And urban runoff is a HUGE contributor to water pollution. Heavy metals, fertilizer, motor oil, all sorts of crap goes straight from the storm drains into the Anacostia. Enough runoff happens when it actually rains – no need to add to it by hosing down sidewalks every day.”
this doesn’t increase run-off at all! It just means the same amount of stuff gets washed away in a less spike-y manner.
20 October 2009 6:37 PM | DcZen Said:
Washing the sidewalks should be required by all buildings in the downtown area. You can actually see a difference between those that do and those that don’t. It is not wasting water and I can’t believe anyone would think that is does.