Other Answers (13)

• I think they mean that it takes energy to pump that water and clean it etc after it goes down the drain. And this energy comes from burning fuels and giving off greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. The drain cannot detect whether the water is clean or not so it all goes to the sewage system and goes through its various processes anyway.
• It takes TIME for it to get through the entire cycle and become available for use again. If you waste it, you have to wait for mother nature to clean it out. During droughts, nature is cleaning it very slowly, so it may not be available when needed.
  
  Also, the water that comes out of your tap is purified by the city%26#039;s sanitation department, which costs money.
• it may be a cycle, but you%26#039;re paying for that water usage, and not all of it returns through the same cycle. sometimes it transfers to another.
• Well, there are many things that are wasted when you use more water than needed.
  A. It takes a certain amount of energy to get the water to your house -- even if the water is gravity fed. The water had to get up into the tower somehow.
  B. The water that comes to your house has been cleaned. That takes raw materials, energy %26amp; man power and a water cleaning facility itself that can handle the water demands. If demands are higher because of a lot of waste, then the water treatment facilities would presumably be larger than needed.
  C. The water that leaves your house may be treated before it goes back into the environment -- again, more energy %26amp; raw materials
  
  You must live in a place that has plenty of water. There are places that water is scarce. You can tell everyone to wait until the wasted water runs through the water cycle before they can get a drink -or- you could just not let extra water run into the sewer or on to the ground. Then, they could have a drink right away. . .
  
  Water is most likely a lot more scarce than we would like to think -- here in Seattle it rains A LOT, but a few years back, we had the beginnings of a water crisis because of drought %26amp; mismanagement of the resource. . .
  
  Waste not, want not!!
• we don%26#039;t waste water, we waste energy moving and storing water where we want it. Think of the fossil fuels or other means it takes to pump water from the ground and treat it so it is safe for whatever use you%26#039;d like, drinking, irrigation, cleaning, etc.
  
  And being an anthrocentric kind of guy, I am partial to the parts of the water cycle that directly keep me alive, and like water to linger in those stages.
• My dad and I were talking about it. WE CAN CLEAN SALT WATER. WE NEVER WASTE WATER.
• It takes time for the water to be cleaned and re-absorbed into the water table. If we are using water faster than it%26#039;s being returned they we will hit a point at which there is no water currently available. So %26quot;Wasting%26quot; water is using water at a rate faster than it can be replenished in the water table unnecessarily.