Is wasting any amount of water a sin? Mortal sin?

[cjcapta]

Let’s say you leave the faucet on while you are lathering your hands with soap because it is easier to wash your hands that way. Or let’s say you leave it on to do something else that will only take some seconds. Have you committed a sin? And if so, is it a grave matter? What if you only did it with the thought that it was sinful once; would it be a grave matter in that case? And what about all the time in a shower that is spent with the water not being used when a person is lathering soap on; should a person keep on turning the water off and on while he or she is taking a shower, even if it is taken in the kind that is a bath and shower [which means that if the person took too long and the water went back to the bath faucet the person would have to keep on having the water first come out of the bath faucet and then switch it to the shower faucet (at least on the kind that I use)]?

 

[momfortune]

Respectfully, we are talking about the Roman Catholic Church, not the GREEN Catholic Church, right? I think that you are being overscrupulous. We are supposed to respect God’s creation and use his gifts wisely within the legitimate needs we have. So, you probably shouldn’t run the faucet all day in a drought area, but even then I don’t think it could be considered a sin unless you deliberately did it to flout God’s authority over nature, right? My suggestions, examine your conscience with a focus more on the seven deadly sins and ten commandments and then go to confession. Don’t be paralyzed by environmental correctness! God Bless, MomFortune:thumbsup:

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Respectfully, we are talking about the Roman Catholic Church, not the GREEN Catholic Church, right? I think that you are being overscrupulous. We are supposed to respect God’s creation and use his gifts wisely within the legitimate needs we have. So, you probably shouldn’t run the faucet all day in a drought area, but even then I don’t think it could be considered a sin unless you deliberately did it to flout God’s authority over nature, right? My suggestions, examine your conscience with a focus more on the seven deadly sins and ten commandments and then go to confession. Don’t be paralyzed by environmental correctness! God Bless, MomFortune:thumbsup:

Amen.

Besides, water always goes somewhere—so the idea that it’s wasted isn’t exactly accurate.

 

[PatrickSebast]

The Water just goes down the drain and to a treatment plant where they separate out all the things we don’t want in our normal water supply. By running the water constantly all you are doing is wasting a little bit more of your tax dollars.

 

[m134e5]

Let’s say you leave the faucet on while you are lathering your hands with soap because it is easier to wash your hands that way. Or let’s say you leave it on to do something else that will only take some seconds. Have you committed a sin? And if so, is it a grave matter? What if you only did it with the thought that it was sinful once; would it be a grave matter in that case? And what about all the time in a shower that is spent with the water not being used when a person is lathering soap on; should a person keep on turning the water off and on while he or she is taking a shower, even if it is taken in the kind that is a bath and shower [which means that if the person took too long and the water went back to the bath faucet the person would have to keep on having the water first come out of the bath faucet and then switch it to the shower faucet (at least on the kind that I use)]?

Wasting water in a place that runs on a well, where you will inconvenience others who also need to use the well if there is no water for awhile (until there is enough water in the well again for it to run) is a sin against charity.

Purposely running water without needing to, in order to try and make conservationists angry is a sin against charity- as is doing anything on purpose to make people angry without a good reason other than the fact that you like to watch them squirm.

Wasting a significant amount of water when you aren’t the one who pays the water bill is a sin against charity- it’s basically stealing. If you waste enough to significantly raise the water bill (so that the person who pays it immediately notices that it is a lot higher- I’ve never lived in a place where I have to pay water, so I’m not sure what the amount would be- I have no idea what water bills are typically like), you’ve really wasted A LOT of water- and it’s probably a mortal sin because of the lack of charity shown.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

Then we get into the definition of ‘waste.’

Define waste. ‘Using more than you need to.’

Okay. How much more? In gallons? Droplets?

‘Using more than you need to’ almost always comes down to ‘using more than I think you need to.’

Wisely, the Church in this case does not make you color by the numbers.

If you’re mooching off someone else’s water dollar, it’s bad manners—but I do not think even that constitutes a mortal sin.

It’s water—again, it always goes somewhere.

 

[Newbie2]

The Water just goes down the drain and to a treatment plant where they separate out all the things we don’t want in our normal water supply. By running the water constantly all you are doing is wasting a little bit more of your tax dollars.

Unless you have a septic system.

Purposefully wasting anything is bad stewardship. In the case of water, somebody has to pay for it, whether it comes from the city or get pumped out of the well.

That being said, “wasting” is an open term when it comes to water (and many other things as well). Every person could get by with a “marine” shower. Turn water on, get wet. Turn water off. Soap up. Turn water on and rinse quickly. Turn water off.

The case could be made that a nice long, hot shower at the end of a hard workday or to get going in the morning is wasteful…if we took it to the extreme.

As an aside, I get a kick out of those toilets that “save water”. Hah! Most times it takes more than one flush to take care of everything, in my experience.

We live in Michigan. I pay money to have my sump pump run every day, every month out of the year. We have more water than we know what to do with. And we have to go to Canada to buy a “regular flush” toilet, not one of those idiotic low-flush volume crappers.

I understand the need in areas where water needs to be conserved. But still, seriously, why do I have to conserve stuff that I have to spend money to get rid of?

 

[1holycatholic]

As an aside, I get a kick out of those toilets that “save water”. Hah! Most times it takes more than one flush to take care of everything, in my experience.

We live in Michigan. I pay money to have my sump pump run every day, every month out of the year. We have more water than we know what to do with. And we have to go to Canada to buy a “regular flush” toilet, not one of those idiotic low-flush volume crappers.

I replaced the cheap low-flow toilets that came with the house with decent ones. Now I only have to flush once. The cheap low-flow toilets are a waste of resources because they don’t work as claimed and they consumed a lot of resources in their manufacture, only to become landfill because they don’t work as claimed.