Water, water leaking everywhere

Stars, they're just like us. They leave the water running. The world is still reeling from the revelation that Celine Dion wasted 6.5 million gallons of water at her Palm Beach mansion. The headline was irresistible: "Celine Has Titanic Water Bill."

There was some forgiveness when it was discovered that much of the problem was due to a broken pipe that went undetected for awhile, but I have to suspect that if she were a little less rich, she would have noticed something amiss when the $36,000 water bill arrived -- assuming, that is, that someone like Celine actually looks at bills.

But wait, there's more. It turns out that Tommy Lee Jones is one of Texas' biggest water wasters, the eighth-largest water consumer in San Antonio. Ecorazzi can't find any explanation for why he's using 128,139 gallons per month, and we should take note of the fact that the city is under year-round water restrictions. The water cops are on the way.

This is sort of a big deal in drought-ravaged Texas, where the western half of the state gets minimal rainfall. It's important to realize that the pumping and transportation of water takes a huge amount of energy, too, up to 20 percent of the energy used in any given town or county. Wasting water isn't just wasting water. It's wasting energy as well.

Don Willmott's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.