Some background:
A home I do the plumbing for suffered a catastrophic leak some time back and as part of the insurance’s requisites for continued coverage, the home required installation of a couple automated shutoffs, two for the 2" domestic feeds, and two for the reverse osmosis systems. As part of the install process, I have access to the monitor/control apps.
I have to say- the home is for two people. It is over 10,000 square feet. It has five fucking ice makers. It has six bathrooms. I’ve worked in every single one of them.
So anyway, I’m sitting here at ten forty five pm, watching one of the RO valves tick off the gallons used since install. I’m currently setting use parameters and hitting my vape (I am clocked in and making double time- I have to have all of this stuff set up and turned over to the owner for insurance agent to verify by 9 tomorrow).
It was installed around 3pm today. It has used nearly 100 gallons as of this posting, in a period of 7 hours. That’s just ONE of the RO system valves. There’s TWO of them here. So double it. 800 gallons a day. Times 30 days. And that’s before the systems have had any demand put on them. Twenty two (ish?) thousand gallons a month, so that these boogie fucks can have ice for their highball, and a spot free rinse for their Maybach.
That’s not counting the water used on irrigation, or filling their hot tub and pool, and whatever else the rich do with the water. I assume they just turn the hose on, toss it in the yard and let it run, because there can. I’ll post the big valve’s numbers in a day or two when the valves exit their learning phase.
Where I am, e we get our water from surface means only; rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc. ground water is brackish due to proximity to the Gulf of Mexico. Where I live, our combined reserves are 12% of its original capacity. The city here has publicized when they expect to hit Emergency Level 1, which means that there is less than 180 days of water remaining. We expect to hit that Emergency Level in mid 2026. It’s 2 weeks from beginning of 2026.
… eat the rich
They don’t. It is a married couple, in their 60s.
The icemakers aren’t the type with a cold box, to help keep the ice frozen and waste less. They are the type that constantly replenishes into an insulated box, but the box does not get cold itself.
I mean, to be fair(ish) I have an ice maker. It’s the size of a boombox though, and I have to manually fill it with water. I just like to chew ice, and it makes that good good chewy ice. My teeth have lorded over me for too long! It’s time they learned who’s boss around here.
I have no problem with an icemaker, or someone possessing an icemaker. They’re built in to all modern refrigerators, and quite nice compact countertop models exist. Those are perfectly fine.
But these two people have the capability of producing about 650lbs of ice daily. One of the units is a commercial one you’d find in a mid sized restaurant.
One of the RO monitoring valves I installed is hooked up to a jockey pump with a 200ish gallon tank, just for a spot free rinse for their car. Excess for the sake of excess.
That’s also, just at the house they have in this city they also possess a home in San Antonio Tx, Denver and Vail Co, San Fran, and somewhere in New England so I assume they have similar systems at all of their homes. The waste these two humans create is criminal.
I am struggling to find appropriate words that won’t get me kicked off of Hexbear.