Don't Let the Faucet Run

Want to save water but don't have a dishwasher? No room for one? Instead of running the faucet while you're doing dishes, fill your sink halfway with water for rinsing.

Kitchen faucets can use two to three gallons of water per minute, so filling your standard sink for a 10-minute dishwashing session about halfway will save you about 18 gallons of water per wash.

If every household in America without a dishwasher washed its dishes for a week by filling the sink instead of running the faucet, we'd save enough water to provide water to Chicago's 8 million residents for three whole days.

California Urban Water Conservation Council
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Great Lakes Directory