Here in California we are in the midst of the worse drought in history. I seem to recall that on these boards, someone had said that Australians do not rinse their dishes after handwashing. This struck me as rather weird, but I was thinking that I might try it, just to make a tiny contribution to water conservation.
I realize that in the greater scheme of things, this really won’t make much of a difference. We really need to reform water policy and charge farmers market rates and quit growing rice in the central valley.
Are there any negatives to having a small amount of soap residue on dishes?
Can you ever taste any residue?
Do Australians use a lot less soap in their dishwater?
I know it’s much more efficient to use an automatic dishwasher than handwashing, but my kitchen is micro and I don’t see how I could fit a dishwasher in there (I’m currently remodelling).
In any case, it really pissed me off when they didn’t serve water automatically in Las Vegas because it took a half an hour for them to finally bring me a glass.
Currently, I do not water anything in my yard except for my little succulent collection. I spent a ton of money on a lawn and irrigation system years ago, but got rid of the lawn way before the current drought. I am however working on drip irrigation for my vegetable garden!
That’s because the drop bears lick the plates clean.
When I lived in Oz, it was in the driest state, of the driest country, of the driest continent in the world. Plenty of water. All of the time. Never experienced a water shortage, even during the worst summers.
You certainly wouldn’t have a tap blasting full bore for your rinse water, but most people would have a double sink - washing and rinsing. So I call misinformed.
Personally I rinse with a trickle of hot water going into the washing sink. If you’re efficient, and you didn’t fill it right up before you started, you can get a load done before it starts to overflow.
But anyway, the dishwasher gets most of it these days.
I lived in London for a couple of years in the early 80’s and my English girlfriend would “do the washing up” by filling the single sink about half way up with hot water, a quick spritz of dish soap in the water and then wash the dishes and hand them to me. I wiped them dry with a dish towel and that was that. Never tasted soap, never got sick. As always, YMMV.
We have experienced a couple of very bad summers recently. Lots of people let their gardens die. Since then, at massive expense a huge desalination plant has been built, and so far not needed.
I have occasionally come across fellow Aussies that didn’t rinse, but relied upon a swift wipe dry to do the work. Possibly the British influence. I always do, or let the dishwasher do the work for me. The presence of one or two sinks might have a lot to do with rinsing preferences. Two sinks makes it vastly easier.
Australia is so varied you can’t say ‘we experienced a couple of bad summers recently’. You might say that Brisbane did - not that they have summers as such. Or Melbourne - not that it has summers either.
In reality the water problem is migration from overseas to urban areas. Existing water sources can’t keep up - hence desalination. The odd bad summer or wet season or whatever didn’t used to be a problem as there was ample water.
In further reality, rinsing your dishes or not has zero effect - the equivalent of an extra 30 seconds in the shower. The vast majority of water used is commercial and/or industrial use and that’s driven by, you guessed it, population!
I, and everyone I’ve ever spoken to about this, don’t rinse after washing. I don’t manually dry either; I let them air dry then put them away. This is what my family has always done as well as my wife’s family and every share house I’ve ever lived in. I live in that driest state that Duckster mentioned so maybe it’s more common here but my wife’s family are from Canberra and I lived for a while in Melbourne and observed the same thing.
Despite Duckster’s experience, South Australia does experience severe water shortages. I grew up during one of the worst droughts in the early 80’s and ever since, cannot leave the tap running while brushing my teeth, pause to consider if it’s really necessary before flushing the toilet and consider a water tank an essential part of the home.
You can when you are only talking about South Australia.
Yes, Brisbane is noted for being perpetually cold and snowy. :dubious:
No, the vast majority of water is used in agriculture.
No, it’s driven by economy. Most of Australia’s agriculture is export, returns from agriculture are very high, and the population involved in agriculture is insignificant, less than 5% of the country.
So even if you halved the population the amount of water used would remain within 10% of the current usage.
Australia doesn’t have less water because of population increase* per se*, and that is especially true of Adelaide. The water deficiency is due to far higher agricultural demand driven primarily by export markets and infrastructure development that hasn’t come close to keeping pace with population growth.
If Australia had the same metrage of dams and weirs per person as it had in 1950 and the same water usage per hecatre of agricultural land, then it would have more water available, not less.
Any water shortage is not due to population growth and it’s not due to climate change or anything else. It’s due to increased agricultural demand coupled with an infrastructure development lag of at least 2 decades.
Technically yes, but Agriculture generally has completely different sources and water quality.
When talking about rinsing your dishes you are talking of treated urban or semi-rural supply which is highly population dependent.
The same water supply feeds industry and residents. It’'s not the same supply that feeds agriculture. Or at least not the same quality though it may have the same origin. In Western Australia the majority urban supply is desalination, groundwater, and dams. The majority agriculture supply is completely different dams and some local groundwater - though most of it is too salty t o use.
Given that, I admit that the majority residential use is watering the garden. However that pales in comparison with Industrial use.
I have never ever rinsed my dishes after washing up, never thought about it until the previous thread, can’t taste detergent, suppose it must be all the instant coffee killing the taste buds.
Yeah, I thought I remember seeing it on the Straight Dope. I’ve been to Australia and have some Australian friends, but I can’t remember any dishwashing incidents. In any case, here in the States, I’ve never seen anyone not rinse, and I suspect that most people I know would be appalled if they witnessed such behavior.
What really pisses me off about the rice cultivation in California is that according to this article, the USA somehow forced Japan to buy 700,000 tons of ricefrom us a year, as part of the 1993 global pact that created the World Trade Organization. Supposedly most of this rice rots in warehouses or is fed to animals. This is ridiculous.
As an Australian that’s just finished tea and will be washing up in next hour or two, I’ll rinse some items before washing, but no chance of doing it again after! They’ll drain and dry overnight, and be put away in the morning. Have never tasted soap on dishes, but I do have a mate that will rinse only glasses after washing, something about soap residue affecting the fizz levels of soft drinks (schweppervescence), or the head on a beer?..
Once you’re used to it, you’ll never taste it. However those unaccustomed to unrinsed dishes will always taste it. Those unaccustomed may also experience intestinal upset afterward.
Of course it won’t hurt you or kill you, but those used to no soap residue may leave your house thinking something was off about the meal. And they’ll be even more convinced if they end up with the trots.
So, ‘I never taste it!’, only proves you’re used it, not that there is no residual taste for those unaccustomed.
Once you’re used to it, you’ll never taste it. However those unaccustomed to unrinsed dishes will always taste it. Those unaccustomed may also experience intestinal upset afterward.
Of course it won’t hurt you or kill you, but those used to no soap residue may leave your house thinking something was off about the meal. And they’ll be even more convinced if they end up with the trots.
So, ‘I never taste it!’, only proves you’re used it, not that there is no residual taste for those unaccustomed.
Sources, absolutely not, and particularly not in “the driest state, of the driest country, of the driest continent in the world” where the water comes from the Murray.. And if you are unaware of the effect that agriculture is having in the water supply at the Murray mouth, put those words into Google.
The claim is also true of Brisbane (Google Laidley Valley/Lokyer Valley irrigation), Sydney and Melbourne. To claim that agriculture generally has completely different sources is flatly untrue.
No it bloody isn’t. If you build another reservoir, then it will grow. The very fact that it is treated and it is urban means that it is it is *solely *dependent on the infrastructure. It isn;t a natural resource that is somehow limited.
No. It only proves that I never taste it, as stated. It cannot prove anything else.
You may well be right, but I just don’t see how this can be considered as proof that those who consume from non-rinsed dishes are all accustomed to the taste of soap.
Let’s just agree my original statement that there is no such thing as ‘Australian’ stands. Western Australia is different to South Australia is different to Victoria is different to Queensland is different to Tasmania.
Western Australia has dam storage for urban and agricultural use. It even has a Murray River!
In general SW WA dam storage is used either for urban or for agricultural use. The difference is usually the salinity levels. They may occasionally mix some sources for urban use but in general particular dams are either ‘Integrated water supply scheme’ or agriculture
Western Australian urban supply also has ground-water and desalination plants. These are not used for agriculture and almost exclusively for urban purposes. In urban areas any agriculture such as market gardens uses ground-water.
In terms of rinsing dishes, the available supply is from the Integrated Supply system. The biggest user of which is industry followed by domestic gardens followed by household use - of which rinsing dishes is the tiniest part.
Incidentally my biggest household water use is the garden. I supply this from my personal ground-water bore - as do many other residents. In fact if we didn’t do this the water table would soon rise above ground level and we would have serious flooding.