The United States could save as much as 245 billion gallons of fresh water annually if everyone used a dishwasher instead of doing the dishes by hand. That's enough to provide drinking and cooking water for every household in America each year.

These facts are some of the findings in the Electrolux WaterSavings Web site (www.electrolux.com/watersavings_us) presented by Electrolux - a global leader in home appliances.

The Web site is based on findings by the U.S. Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR program, as well as consumer research by Electrolux, which have determined that it takes less than five gallons of water to do a load of dishes in an Electrolux ENERGY STAR qualified dishwasher, while handwashing an equivalent number of dishes requires 27 gallons of water.

This means a household in the United States could save 4,730 gallons annually by using a water-efficient dishwasher, such as the Electrolux.

If all households in the U.S. today that are doing dishes by hand switched to a modern dishwasher, a total of 245 billion gallons would be saved each year. The amount of water saved by one household making the switch would be enough to provide the drinking and cooking water for 2.5 other households.

By making the switch to a dishwasher, residents of the New York City metropolitan area could save 13,863,402,851 gallons each year, enough to fill more than 35,400 Olympic-size swimming pools. The people of the state of New York could conserve enough water annually to fill 67 stadiums the size of the Pasadena Rose Bowl. That's in addition to the estimated 229 hours each year saved by a household using a dishwasher instead of washing dishes by hand.

Even switching from a 10-year-old dishwasher to a new one would save the household nearly 30% of the water used.

"Water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in many parts of the world, including the United States, and we all have a responsibility to use this precious resource more carefully," said Henrik Sundström, head of sustainability affairs at the Electrolux Group.

"Everyone can play a role in solving the challenge of water scarcity: consumers, by adopting new technologies and making smart choices in their daily life; policymakers, by encouraging consumers to do so, for instance with legislation and incentive programs that speed up the replacement of inefficient appliances; and industry, by reducing water use and emissions, and equally importantly, developing and offering products that are continuously more efficient and climate smart," Sundström concluded.

Today, 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate clean water to meet their basic daily needs, and 2.6 billion do not have proper sanitation facilities, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) within the UN. The UN warns that by the year 2025, between 2.6 and 3.1 billion people could be living in either water-scarce or water-stressed conditions. This already poses a serious threat to health and welfare, and also to agriculture and industry.

To see how much water could be saved in major cities and countries around the world, visit www.electrolux.com/watersavings.

To learn more about Electrolux appliances, visit www.electroluxappliances.com. To find an Electrolux Repair part, click here.

Electrolux is a global leader in home appliances and appliances for professional use, selling more than 40 million products to customers in 150 countries every year. The company focuses on innovations that are thoughtfully designed, based on extensive consumer insight, to meet the real needs of consumers and professionals. Electrolux products include refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines, vacuum cleaners and cookers sold under esteemed brands such as Electrolux, AEG-Electrolux, Zanussi, Eureka and Frigidaire. In 2008, Electrolux had net sales of US $15.9 billion and 55,000 employees.

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