You have a chance to save water, energy, and money every time you do the dishes! Whether you have a dishwasher or wash dishes by hand, there are lots of easy ways to use water efficiently.

Let your dishwasher do the work:

• Wash only full loads. One partially full load can waste 5-10 gallons of water. 
• Scrape food residue from dishes instead of rinsing. Rinsing can waste 2.5 gallons of water per minute, and most new dishwashers don't require it.
• Follow manufacturer's instructions on care and maintenance of your current washer. A well-maintained washer is a more efficient washer!  
• Switch and save! Switching to an Energy Star labeled dishwasher could save you more than 1,000 gallons of water each year. Conventional dishwashers use about 5 gallons of water per cycle (GPC) while Energy Star models use about 3.2 GPC. 

Wash wisely by hand

• Fill your sink or a tub with soapy water and only turn the faucet on when rinsing.
• Scrape food residue from dishes instead of rinsing. Compost food scraps or throw them away instead of using the garbage disposal.
• Let it soak. Rather than running the faucet to wash difficult food residue, let time do the work and run the faucet only to rinse.

Resources

• Find and compare Energy Star labeled dishwashers using this tool.
• Read the technical information about dishwashers that WaterSense recommends.

Waterwise Fact

Energy Star certified dishwashers use 3.2 gallons of water per cycle. That’s at least 30% less than standard dishwashers!