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7 Ways To Conserve Water This Thanksgiving

Brad Holt
/
CreativeCommons/Flickr

When you think about Thanksgiving, you might envision a turkey dinner, or spending time with your family. However, do you ever think about water conservation?

It’s estimated a Thanksgiving meal for eight – from farm to table to clean-up – requires more than 40,000 gallons of water. In light of that fact, here are 7 ways you can conserve water this holiday:

  1. Thaw frozen food in your refrigerator or microwave and not under running water.
  2. Rinse vegetables in a sink or basin filled with water. A running faucet uses three to five gallons of water per minute.
  3. Do not dump fats, oils or grease from cooking turkey down the drain. It can clog your plumbing system and harm the environment. Weld County’s Household Hazardous Waste program collects cooking oil on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., except on holidays like Thanksgiving. (The Weld County Household Hazardous Waste Facility is located at 1311 N. 17th Avenue in Greeley.) 
  4. Use your garbage disposal sparingly. A better option is to compost kitchen waste. (The City of Greeley and Weld County have developed a handbook to help people get started composting.)
  5. Presoak utensils and dishes in a sink filled with water rather than in running water.
  6. Only run full loads in the dishwasher. This shouldn't be too difficult with large family meals, although you may have to run your dishwasher more than once.
  7. If you wash your dishes by hand, do not leave the water running for rinsing. If you have two sinks, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you only have one sink, gather the washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a pan full of hot water.

For more information on how conserving water visit the City of Greeley Website.

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