California chef creates unique way to save water during record drought

In drought-stricken California, Chef John Cox of Sierra Mar eatery, came up with a new method for saving water.

span style="line-height: 15.8599996566772px;">MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - On a remote location off Highway 1, where people can see the Pacific in Big Sur, at the top of the cliff, is the Sierra Marr high-end restaurant where Cox works. Instead of putting dishes directly into the dishwasher, he uses compressed air, which is a waterless rinsing method for cleaning dishes.

As California has suffered for almost a century with the most severe drought, Cox said their restaurant are taking part in helping the state, by practicing their own way of conserving water with the pre-rinse method.

Other restaurants also have initiated ways to save water. It is now a requirement for restaurants to only serve water to customers if they ask for it.

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According to Cox, the requirement in itself doesn't really save water in a huge way, given the situation that the state is in now, although this can actually help carry out awareness in ways for water conservation.

The idea of using compressed air to pre-rinse the dishes came to Cox when he was in Sierra Mar's kitchen. He said he used a can of compressed air to clean some harvested mushrooms. He added that he needed to clean the mushrooms because they were sandy.

Cox only began thinking of using the air compressor to pre-rinse the dishes when he had it stored in the kitchen cleaning station at the restaurant. He thought of using it when he saw the air compressor's spray handle, which gave him the idea of using it as an air hose.

Cox explained that Sierra Mar uses up about 3,500 gallons of water every day, and one-third of that is being used for rinsing the dishes. He added that their restaurant is actually conscious in its water usage.

Billions of gallons of water will be saved if all the restaurants in the state follow this method of conserving water, according to Cox. The good news is that other restaurants have already been heeding his advice on how they can save water through compressed air in pre-rinsing dishes.

For Cox, his method is a pretty easy one and is a small step that can actually go a long way in conserving water.

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