How to Conserve Water: Hand Washing Dishes

Here's how to conserve water while you wash your dishes by hand.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Rubbermaid dish tubs (these use less water than filling the sink)

1. Don't run the water as you wash or rinse your dishes unless you are running it into a tub or a stopped sink.

2. Fill up a tub with soapy water, and a tub with rinse water. (You might add a tiny bit of chlorine to the rinse water to act as a disinfectant.)

3. Wash the dishes in order from the least dirty dishes to the most dirty dishes.

4. Dunk the dishes in the chlorinated rinse water to rinse them.

5. Let pots and pans soak before you wash them.

6. Cook and serve your food with water conservation in mind. Use the same pots for different cooking tasks. Set your table with less redundant silverware and glassware. Keep an eye on items that might burn or leave tough to wash residue.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't hand wash dishes before you wash them in the dishwasher. It's an unnecessary step.

[blingaling]

on 1/25/2009 All good advice. We have an RV, so these are especially useful tips.