Our local Council well known for its quirky approaches has kicked off 2014 with marketing messages on conserving water usage that appear to be at odds with each other.
First Waikato District Council issued a media statement on conserving water saying “.. if you have to wash the car or boat, do it on the lawn, run full washing machine and dishwasher loads and follow the Alert Level 1 requirements.” This appears to support using dishwashers provided they are full. Next it published an advertisement in the Raglan Chronicle saying, “washing dishes by hand rather than using a dishwasher, will save 180 litres!” So the Council seems to be both advocating washing dishes by hand to save water and at the same time saying that dishwashers should be used.
The information in the advertisement is incorrect as modern automatic dishwashers use less water than washing dishes by hand. The UK Waterwise Council says, “A common misconception is that dishwashers use more water; in fact, these machines can be water savers – if used wisely. In the 1970s, dishwashers used as much as 50 litres per cycle, but modern models can use as little as 10 litres”.
So automatic dishwashers offer the potential for significant water savings over hand washing when dishwashers are fully loaded when used and the dishes are not pre-rinsed unnecessarily.
Raglanders needn’t feel guilty when they use their dishwashers as these appliances used with full loads save water.
Enquiries by Raglan 23 to WDC on where the figure in the advert of 180 litres came from have drawn a blank. We also pointed out to the Council that modern dishwashers use less water than hand washing dishes. A spokesperson from WDC did say, “the advertisement is one of a Smart Water series scheduled to appear in community newspapers across the region over coming weeks. The concepts have also been incorporated in social media, posters, bus backs, supported by extensive radio campaigns, with positive feedback to date. It is important to note we are not recommending a particular way of doing dishes because, as you mention, there are a number of dishwashers available requiring varying levels of water usage, as there will be with washing machines.”
The most recent January water statistics from WDC for Raglan show water usage is well under the authorised draw-off from Riki Springs of 3100 cubic metres per day:
|
Tues |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
Sun |
Mon |
|
7/1 |
8/1 |
9/1 |
10/1 |
11/1 |
12/1 |
13/1 |
|
1779 |
1713 |
1582 |
1750 |
1809 |
1693 |
1626 |
|
14/1 |
15/1 |
16/1 |
17/1 |
18/1 |
19/1 |
20/1 |
|
1695 |
1825 |
1790 |
1693 |
1922 |
2029 |
1615 |
The pattern is similar to past years with usage driven by both warm weather and visitor numbers. Usage usually peaks at weekends when visitors swell Raglan’s population.