A Drop in the Bucket...

"The latest regulatory push by the Department of Energy might have finally gone too far. The DoE says that loads of dishes can’t use more than 3.1 gallons. This amounts to a further intensification of “green” policies that are really just strategies to wreck the consumer experience.

The agency estimated that this would “save” 240 billion gallons of water over three decades. It would reduce energy consumption by 12 percent. It would save consumers $2 billion in utility bills."

 That was from Jeff Tucker. He states that the projections have three problems: 1) it reduces the utility of a given washing cycle; 2) prices serve as better guides for opportunity costs; and 3) people will respond by using resources in different ways which may result in more water use.

Some interesting back of the envelope calculations in the comments section:

"240 Billion Gallons of water over three decades is 8 Billion per year. According to the Department of the Interior, US Domestic Freshwater Consumption was 270 Bgal/day (or 98,550 Bgal/yr) in 2005. An 8Bgal/year savings would represent a savings of .008% of the water supply....pardon the pun, but that seems like a drop in the bucket."