Ways To Conserve Water In The Kitchen III

- To avoid wasting drinking water from a running tap, collect it in a bottle or jug and store it in the fridge until it is cool enough to drink.
- Garbage-disposal units use about 6 litres of water per day. Put suitable food scraps into a composter or worm farm rather than down the kitchen sink.
- When you clean your fish tank, use the ‘old’ nitrogen and phosphorous-rich water on your plants.


- Look for dishwashers that have a National Water Conservation or WELS Label. The best water rating achieved by dishwashers is 5 star.
- Only use the dishwasher when you have a full load.
- Use the rinse-hold setting on the dishwasher, if it has one, rather than rinsing dishes under the tap.


- When washing dishes by hand, don’t rinse them under a running tap. If you have two sinks, fill the second one with rinsing water. If you have only one sink, stack washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a pan of hot water.
- Use washing-up liquid sparingly as this will reduce the amount of rinsing required when washing dishes by hand.
- Use a plugged sink or a pan of water. This saves running the tap continuously.
- When boiling vegetables, use enough water to cover them and keep the lid on the saucepan. Your vegetables will boil quicker and it will save you water, power, and preserve precious vitamins in the food.
- Flow-controlled aerators for taps are inexpensive and can reduce water flow by 50%.
- Don’t use running water to defrost frozen food. Ideally place food in refrigerator to defrost overnight.
- Catch running water whilst waiting for it to warm up. Use it to water plants, rinse dishes, or wash fruit and vegetables.
- If you have a leaking tap, replace the washer or other components as required. Dripping taps can waste 30–200 litres of water per day.
- Insulate hot water pipes. This avoids wasting water while waiting for hot water to flow through and saves energy.
- Make sure your hot water system thermostat is not set too high. Adding cold water to cool very hot water is wasteful.


- Remove ice cube trays a few minutes before you need them, to loosen them at room temperature instead of under the faucet.
- Keep a covered container of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the faucet for cool water. - Shake the container before serving to incorporate air in water and eliminate “flat” taste.
- Serve drinking water only if people request it.