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Does a Dishwasher Save Water?

A dishwasher DOES save water. 

More Info: A new Energy Star rated dishwasher can save as much as 5,000 gallons of water per year over hand washing the same amount of dishes. It will also save approximately $40 in utility bills and 230 hours of time.

Although most people find it hard to believe, a dishwasher does use less water than washing dishes by hand. Most people who wash dishes by hand do so at least twice a day by filling a sink with hot soapy water and leaving the water running to rinse them. People who use a dishwasher, normally wait until it is full to run the cycle. For most families, this will be no more than once a day and may be only two or three times a week.

Energy Star Labels

Modern manufacturing techniques are making dishwashers even more efficient. Dishwashers manufactured after 1994 use between 8 and 14 gallons of water per load. To earn an Energy Star rating since August of 2009, a machine is required to use 5.8 gallons of water or less. For some appliances, the actual water use is half that required to wash the same dishes by hand.

Water Saving Features

Another way that modern dishwashers save water is through specialized cycles. For lightly soiled dishes, most of the newer dishwashers have a shortened cycle that uses less water. 

Most newer dishwashers do not require pre-rinsing. Simply scraping off large scraps of food, as if preparing to wash the dishes by hand, is all that is required. This can save up to 20 gallons of water per load.

For people who require two or three days to accumulate a full load of dishes, most newer machines have a rinse and hold feature that gets rid of food that may be harder to remove after drying out. On most dishwashers, the rinse and hold cycle will only use one or two gallons of water.

Some energy efficient dishwashers also have a "soil sensor" to automatically adjust water usage depending on how dirty the dishes are in each load.