I don’t understand how you can just leave the tap on–where does that water come from?
Is the water from your kitchen sink and your toilet the same water?
Is water really being “wasted”?
In: Engineering
If you are on a well system it comes from a well somewhere close by. If you are on the municipal water system your municipal has water storage. This could be reservoirs or water towers or a mix. Those storages are at a higher altitude to allow gravity to pressurize the water system using just its weight. Those storages are fed by aquifers, rivers, and lakes. In rare cases the fresh water can come from desalination.
When you leave a tap running you aren’t removing water from Earth. However you are removing water from storage and there might not be enough water coming into replace that “wasted” water. Droughts reduce rainfall so the initial source of water can start to dry up. Snow fall the previous winter melts during the spring to also feed lakes and such. If there wasn’t much snow there won’t be as much to melt so you can also run into shortages that way.
Your house has a single pipe coming into it. It will have a pressure control valve that steps down the pressure from the municipal supply to a more reasonable pressure for your home. The water in the tap is the same as the water in the toilet tank.
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