26 Jun Water Saving Tips for the Kitchen and Laundry
Kitchen taps
• 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.
• Don’t use running water to defrost frozen food. Ideally place food in refrigerator to defrost overnight.
• Flow-controlled aerators for taps are inexpensive and can reduce water flow by 50%.
Dripping taps can waste 30–200 litres of water per day.
Washing machine tips
• To save water and energy, always run your washing machine on a full load.
• Washing in cold water saves energy and may not compromise the quality of the wash.
• Adjust the water level to suit the size of the wash load – some new water efficient models will do this automatically.
• Wash with a full load and you will save 10 litres of water each wash.
• Use the sud-saver option – if your machine has one – when you have several loads to wash.
• Pre-treat stains before loading into your machine.
• Choose a water efficient washing machine.
Source: Smartwatermark.org/Victoria; Unity water, water efficiency tips