Tsk, ts, Tisch!
The Suffolk County Water Authority has published a list of the Hamptons’ biggest water wasters – and readers will be amazed to learn that it has some billionaires on it, with James Tisch at the top.
While the average home uses 130,000 gallons of water a year, the Loews Corp. president’s Southampton mansion guzzled. seven million gallons last year.
Other water offenders include media mogul James “Sprinkelstein” Finkelstein with four million and real estate guru Robert “The Tub Man” Taubman (we assume he takes a lot of baths) with six million.
Joann Richter — the wife of Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who wrote “A Beautiful Mind” and “Cinderella Man” — was also submerged for her nine-million-gallon slurp.
Marc Leder, co-founder of Sun Capital Partners — known as the “Hugh Hefner of the Hamptons” for throwing over-the-top parties at his $20 million, 8,000-square-foot mansion — has knocked down seven million gallons. (In 2011, Vidak For Congress reported that at a party, “guests pottered naked in the pool and performed sexual acts, scantily clad Russians danced on platforms, and men turned lit torches to a booming techno beat.”)
With five million gallons coming in, Louise Blouin, who used to run an art media empire with “Art + Auction” and “Modern Painter.” The $63 million home known as “La Dune” went up in bankruptcy court in May.
The list appeared in local media Sag Harbor Express and the East Hampton Star, noting, “While estates with vast, meticulously maintained and intricately landscaped grounds are certainly thirsty, the difference between a few million gallons and the demands of super-users is almost always geothermal heating and cooling systems in large mansions.”
These whales certainly love their water.
Meanwhile, the Suffolk County Water Authority has issued a Stage 1 Water Emergency Alert in the towns of Southampton, Southold, East Hampton and Shelter Island.
The water company is asking people to curb their water consumption by stopping irrigating at certain hours and reducing shower time “to ensure there is enough water for firefighting and other emergencies.”