Would you believe that as much as 20% of a household’s water usage is in the kitchen? There is a lot of room for being more mindful in our use of water, and it can feel daunting in the kitchen, but here are some quick and easy tips for saving water in the kitchen.

Do you have a low flow kitchen faucet? – Check to see if your faucet has caught up with today’s technology. Make sure you have switched out your old faucet if it has a high flow rate. Older faucets had a flow rate of 5 gallons per minute (GPM), while today’s faucets boast a flow rate of 1.5 GPM!

Use the dishwasher instead of handwashing dishes – But, wait to run the dishwasher until you have a full load of dishes. In doing so, you will save on electricity, water, and detergent.

Soak pots – Soak your pots and pans instead of washing and scrubbing under running water.

Steam food instead of boiling – Steaming your vegetables saves water, plus retains more nutrients than boiling. You can also try roasting them!

 Save your running water – Running your tap while you wait for the water to get hot or cold is a waste of perfectly clean water. Instead of wasting precious water down the drain  Fill a pitcher of drinking water for the fridge or keep a bucket to fill for use around the house, to avoid water waste while waiting for the temperature to change.

Use washable spray mops and spot clean floors – Keep your kitchen floor clean by attending to spills immediately. Instead of mopping the entire floor, clean up spills as soon as they happen. For daily cleaning, invest in a spray mop with a washable head, and keep bucket mopping for seasonal deep cleaning.

Fix leaks! – A leaky faucet is more than an annoyingly noisy drip of water. Fifteen thousand drops of water make a gallon. At one drip per second, a leaky faucet can waste over 3000 gallons a year!