Stop watering your lawn!

[bhskittykatt]

To the house on the corner of 17th and Knox...

I thought we were doing so good this year. I haven't seen the tell-tale signs of sprinkler-spray on your trees for several weeks, and I though finally, you've shut down your irrigation for the season. Alas, this morning, as I tried to take a 90-degree turn at the intersection, it soon became a 120-degree turn. Why? Because you overwater your lawn, the run-off of which ends in the street, which freezes and turns to ice! Ice + intersection = bad!

You don't need to run sprinklers this time of year. We live in the land of rain! Hell, we just had a bunch of record breaking rain that flooded some of the regional rivers!!! Why the f*** do you need to add more water to your lawn? How is your grass not completely drowned yet? All you are doing is creating a hazard at that intersection and driving up the rates of your neighbors. [We do not meter households in this city. It is a flat rate for water. In a couple years it will be mandatory to have water meters, but currently it is on a volunteer-basis to have a meter installed.]

May your pipes freeze and burst and flood your basement. I'll be laughing, even if it creates an even bigger mess on the street there, because you'd totally deserve it.

[Sadly, this is not the only house I've seen still running their sprinklers this time of year, though it is the only one where water ends up on the street and freezes. WTF people! Why? WHY?!?!?!?! GAH!!!]

[Andara Bledin]

Since it's billed to the entire area, can you not complain to some agency about them wasting water and creating a traffic hazard?

^-.-^

[csquared]

Call the local non-emergency number for the police and report that these people have created a road hazard.

[MoonCat]

Complain to the city. Check your phone listings for city hall or whatever it's called in your town. There should be some kind of complaint line. They're creating a serious road hazard.

Years ago on my old street the people in the house on the corner installed a pipe to drain water from their basement laundry room out to the sidewalk. Of course, it froze solid in winter and you couldn't get to the corner bus stop without risking life and limb. I called the city housing office and made a complaint. I wasn't the only one. Those people had to remove that pipe.

[blas]

Ehh, in the spring/summer/fall, the sprinklers are always going at work, even if it's raining.

Funny story, the bigwigs wanted to make it look like they cared about our input, so they gave everyone a survey of what they thought would help them cut costs (because the company joined in on the Green herd mentality a while back) and not a single suggestion was implemented, and a dumb excuse was given for each one.

Many people suggested NOT using the sprinklers while it's raining, and the response was that they are on timers. And you can't turn that off? No? I know security is worthless, but you're saying they don't even know how to turn off a sprinkler system?

And yet, in months before, those idiots in suits and big pants were boasting about how much energy and water we'd be saving. Yeah, we're really saving water alright.

[wolfie]

If reporting this situation (sprinklers on in winter, resulting in ice on road) to the authorities has no effect, try reporting it to your car insurance company "No, I haven't been in an accident, I just wanted to give you a heads up about a house in the area that is creating a road hazard". Since an insurance company would have to pay out in the event of an accident, they'd be likely to bring some serious heat on the authorities to get the problem fixed (and they'd be likely to pass it on to other insurance companies, bringing the heat as a group - this would not be something subject to "anti-trust", since it would be action to get rid of an unnecessary risk, rather than action that benefited the insurance companies to the detriment of the public).

[Ironclad Alibi]

Call the local non-emergency number for the police and report that these people have created a road hazard.

If reporting them ahead of time does not get them to stop, but sure to report it as an emergency when the road is iced up due to their lawn watering. The police will need to be there to close the road and redirect traffic around the ice hazzard.

It is possible they would be held liable for any accidents caused by their lawn watering. The insurance companies definitely need to know about it for any accidents due to it.

[laborcat]

I still don't understand why people would be watering their lawn in weather cold enough to freeze. Maybe it's just me, but that thought is puzzling.

[wildman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in the Dallas/Ft.Worth area there are some city ordinances that these Sprinkler systems must have sensors installed to stop this type of wasteful watering during freezing weather or when it is raining. Those in violation can be fined in these cases.

[eltf177]

Actually, given the temperatures I'm shocked the system hasn't frozen up. It's quite possible the system isn't on but is broken.

Yes, report it to Public Works. If they're even halfway competent they'll jump on this in a hurry.

Ah, the stories I could tell about moron homeowners...

[Kogarashi]

Sounds similar to the people in Utah who watered their lawns during the hottest part of the day in the summer, which ended up baking the lawns instead of nourishing them, and they couldn't figure out why they had brown lawns when everyone else (including the local university) had green lawns. Only difference is the lack of ice hazard there.

Throw my vote in for reporting the people creating the hazard.