Neighbours dobbing on water use is the final straw
Yes, we have water restrictions and we know we are in drought amid a catastrophic bushfire season. But the last thing we need is snitching neighbours as well, writes Louise Roberts.
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Our national psyche in all its rugged good nature and compassion has been in the spotlight this week as we support our bushfire ravaged communities.
It’s that rolled gold Aussie spirit so good that if we could, we’d bottle it and sell it.
That same spirit which has helped so many get through bushfires has also been there for our seemingly never-ending drought. Which is, even for those of us in the cities, always front of mind when you step under the shower or press start on the washing machine with level two restrictions in place across NSW.
But while water is precious so is something else: Honesty, community, and the trust that comes from face-to-face communication.
As a society we tolerate – barely – anonymous trolls smashing up people on social media. It takes no effort to be a keyboard warrior and tap out bile to someone you’ve never met about an issue which is none of your business.
RELATED: Sydney suburbs dobbing on their neighbours over water restrictions
As it turns out, that same spirit of savaging someone from behind the safety of an app is also infecting our streets. The result is that dobbing – the clumsy and vindictive and frankly un-Australian art of secretly reporting someone to get them in trouble and give the dobber an ego boost – is on the rise in Sydney.
Officials report that thousands of Sydneysiders have dobbed in their neighbours for breaching water restrictions.
Sydney Water says it has received more than 4000 complaints since level two water restrictions began in December.
“Sydney Water currently receives 250-300 reports per day alerting us to customers using water in breach of the water restrictions,” a Sydney Water spokeswoman said.
Yet for all the complaints, only six people have been fined, and about 220 have been given official warnings for water misuse since they were introduced. So what does that tell you? A whole lot of tittle tattle revenge on annoying neighbours and not a lot of evidence.
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And why? It’s hardly a stretch to speed dial a hotline and say: “I saw that Louise Roberts of 140 Annoying Street, Pompous Hills, hosing her concrete driveway at 4.36pm on Tuesday and she was smiling about it.”
Who have we become that we are now twitching the netted curtains and hoping to see our annoying neighbour giving a dressing down by water police, caught red handed with a dripping hose?
That’s not to say I don’t take water restrictions deadly seriously. I do. I am the mother routinely bashing on the bathroom door to get my son out of the shower before the street runs dry and my bill hits four figures.
I hate wasting water, food, power, paper – any resource. And I’ve never hosed a path or driveway. That’s just stupid.
But I loathe snide, cowardly behaviour more, and that’s exactly what the Sydney Water website does with its helpful name and shame section: What would you like to make a report about, it says with a whiff of the passive aggressive.
Using sprinklers and watering systems, using hand held hoses, hosing hard surfaces or using fire hoses and systems? Click here to dob.
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There is, of course, the counter argument that rule-worshipping Mrs Mangel types lead to a more diligent and wide spread observance of laws and therefore as a society we benefit.
If your neighbour briefs you on a suspicious person hanging around your home then, yes, you are grateful and no one would complain about an anonymous tip to police about serious criminal activity. But there is a difference between a watchful neighbour and being held to account for every perceived violation because last time I checked we were not living in a totalitarian regime.
How do we know how much water the dobbers have saved?
We tell our kids not to dob because, for them, it is the logical step if they see some wrong but we know adult life is more nuanced and respectful. Or it should be.
It was reported that suburbs in Sydney’s west have the highest amounts of people accusing their neighbours of breaching water restrictions. That’s because these suburbs are hotter and drier so residents are more aware of the drought.
So if you are wasting water stop it. And if you see a neighbour doing the wrong thing, work out a way to discuss it with them, ergo be a neighbour not a snitch.
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If you see them brandishing that contraband hose, I challenge you to squelch your judgment and walk over to talk to them. There might be many reasons for their actions. Perhaps they have a tank that miraculously still has water in it, perhaps they even have a bore.
Maybe they have had a momentary lapse of judgment, or maybe they are uninformed about the new level two restrictions.
Never assume you know the answers. It pays to ask.
And if your neighbour flips you the bird or tells you to mind your own business, at least you tried.
And isn’t that the Australian way?
We have water restrictions. We know we are in drought. We know our state continues to burn. We know lives have been lost, many homes and businesses destroyed.
We don’t need dobbing as well.