Something I'd never thought of

"The next time that you wash dishes by hand, here's an experiment I'd like you to try. Stop up the sink over which you hot rinse the dishes, and then at the end of the wash cycle, measure how much water is in there. I'll bet it's more than you thought you were using, because when it runs down the drain, you don't see it. How many gallons did you end up with?

I'm suggesting this experiment because, unbelievably, newer, efficient dishwashers use as little as five gallons of water for the entire dishwasher load. On the other hand, says the American Water Works Association, when you wash dishes by hand, the average person uses 20 gallons of water. Now maybe this figure comes from those that leave the tap on as they're washing and aren't conservative with water the way you are. But I'll bet that it would be a challenge for you to hand wash an entire day's worth of dishes using five gallons only-for the dipping, washing and rinsing."

I wonder if the writer factored in the energy to build and create the dishwasher? But it's good to know the new ones are so efficient. Mine isn't very old (a Maytag), but it's a piece of junk and will soon need to be replaced.

Link to Recyclebank