Tips To Conserve Water In The Kitchen

It can be challenging to balance all of your responsibilities, obligations, and concerns. When you are at work, you think you should be at home. When you spend money, you think you should be saving. It’s hard to even do something simple like go to the grocery store without wondering if you are doing enough to protect the environment. Do I have the right shopping bags? Is my food organic? Locally grown? Healthy?

With all of these different things to think about, it can be easy to forget that there are small ways to hit several of these birds with the same stone. Often, saving money and being environmentally friendly can be achieved at the same time. One way to cut your bills while doing right by the planet is to conserve how much water you use. We use water all the time, doing all sorts of activities – cooking, cleaning, and bathing are just a few. There are ways to cut down in each of these categories. Below are some tips for conserving water specifically in the kitchen.

Don’t allow the faucet to run. Whether you are scrubbing vegetables or waiting for running water to get cold, letting the faucet run endlessly wastes a lot of water. Keep some water for drinking stored in the refrigerator to keep it cold, and put a stopper in the sink when you are scrubbing vegetables or dishes. You should also avoid using running water to defrost frozen food. Defrost overnight in the fridge if you can or use the microwave.

Fix any leaky taps. If you have a dripping tap, it is important that you take care of it. Call in a plumber if you don’t know how to fix it yourself. It will save you money in the long run and save a lot of water, too.

Start composting. Composting is a much more environmentally friendly way to dispose of your food waste than just throwing things in the trash. Composting also saves water if you do it instead of using your garbage disposal, which require lots of water in order to work properly.

Only run a full dishwasher. Instead of running your dishwasher when it is less than full, wait until it has a full load. It will use the same amount of water either way, so you might as well get the most bang for your buck, so to speak. And don’t wash your dishes before you load them – it is unnecessary and wastes water and time.

Use a clean sink strainer. Make sure you use a strainer to catch any debris that goes down your sink. Get out all of the scraps out of there each time you do the dishes, and when you are cleaning the sink, clean the strainer too.

Trade in your mop for a dry brush. Instead of using an old mop, a big sudsy bucket of water, and a whole lot of elbow grease to scrub your kitchen floors, consider getting a dry brush and doing more spot cleaning instead. Always sweep up scraps on the floor after you cook and spot clean the tiles or linoleum where it needs it instead of washing the whole floor. You should still do a weekly mop, but there is usually no need to do more than that.

Buy and install a water heater. If you have an instant water heater installed near your kitchen sink, you won’t have to run the water to wait while it heats up. This not only saves water, it also saves a lot of energy. Both your water bills and your electric or gas bills will get lower.

Mike Zook has been writing about green living and eco-friendly home improvements for many years. When he’s not writing you can find Mike reviewing products from a turbidity curtain supplier, to help protect the water supply.