With the City Council on the verge of imposing Stage 2 water restrictions, much has been said about the water wasted when new developments flush their new water lines. I realized last week how much water gets wasted when a house gets sold: any old house, not just a new one.

We hired a home inspector to thoroughly inspect our new home. The water system is part of the inspection, so the inspector cranked on the faucets and let them all run for over an hour as he checked the system for leaks. It made me cringe to see how much water was going down the drain, and yet I certainly wanted any leaks to be discovered. I just wish there was another way to accomplish this without so much waste.

Then again, last summer when I was still drought-stupid I would habitually water the lawn for 3 hours with two hoses going full blast. I wasted far more water doing that than any home inspection could…