Conserving Water - Water Conservation in the Kitchen
January 17th, 2008
Conserving water has become the need of the hour because of the non-renew ability of water combined with its necessity. We as a planet are running out of water, which unlike other things is necessary for living. It is not just the government or civic bodies whose duty it is to conserve water, but all of us are equally responsible for saving water for tomorrow by using it judiciously today. By following a few simple steps, we can conserve hundreds of gallons per day per day per household. All we need to do is use water wisely in the kitchen, bathrooms and in our gardens, and we can end up saving almost as much as we spend per day. Since the kitchen is one place where water is used a lot every day, it should be the first place to start house hold water conservation. Some simple tips that will help you save water in the kitchen are:
· One thing that you should always pay attention to is the time you keep the faucet running without doing anything substantial. At the same time, you might have noticed that the faucet generally provides more water than required for your task. The best thing to do to save water in your kitchen is to start using an attachment that either lets you regulate the flow of water from your faucet or decreases it substantially. We can generally do with only one-third of the water that our faucet provides while washing vegetables or doing the dishes. You can use external attachments that fit on to any kind of faucet to provide a lesser amount of water. These can be bought from any home supply store for five to ten dollars.
· If you do not want a slower supply of water, you can get an aerated faucet for your kitchen sink, which will provide you water at the same pressure that you were getting earlier, but still save on water by mixing its water output with a high percentage of air.
· If you do not or cannot change or attach any fixtures in your kitchen, you can still save on water by running the faucet only when it is absolutely necessary to do so. Start washing vegetables in pans or sinks full of water instead of washing them under running water. Instead of defrosting food under running water, keep it outside the freezer or in the fridge 4-6 hours before use. Try not to use the microwave too much for defrosting, for while this will save on water, you will still be wasting energy that is produced from non renewable fuel.
· Do not use your dishwasher or washing machine when you have to wash only a small number of utensils or clothes. This is because even partial or half loads consume almost an equal amount of water as that used for a full load. If you only have to wash just a couple of dishes, try washing them by hand to save water.
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