- Crete’s humidity produces liters of dehumidifier water daily in many homes.
- This water is not safe to drink, cook with, or give to pets.
- But it is excellent for mopping floors, flushing toilets, cleaning balconies, washing cars, and watering non-edible plants.
- Pouring it down the drain wastes both water and electricity.
- In summer shortages, this habit becomes not just stupid, but also economically and morally indefensible.
Crete’s Humidity Is Free Water
If you live in Crete long enough, you stop thinking of humidity as weather and start thinking of it as a personality disorder. It sneaks into wardrobes, ruins towels, makes the cold feel colder than it has any right to be, and turns homes into slow, damp caves if you do not fight it back.
That is why so many households run dehumidifiers—not as a luxury gadget, but as a survival appliance.
And yet, in the middle of this very modern Cretan reality, a truly ancient form of nonsense continues: people collect liters of water from the air… and then pour it straight down the drain.
Let us say it without perfume: this is stupid.
Not because water-from-air is magical. Not because dehumidifier water will save the planet. But because it is a practical resource, created at your own expense, and can replace a surprising amount of needless tap water use—especially during the island’s dry, fragile summer months.
In a place that will always have to manage water carefully, throwing away usable water is like buying olive oil to clean your shoes.
First Rule: Do Not Drink It
Before the smart people cheer and the careless ones misunderstand: dehumidifier water is not for drinking.
Dehumidifiers condense moisture from the air, yes, but that moisture can also carry contaminants. The water can pick up particles from indoor air and residues from the machine’s internal components. It may contain bacteria, dust, or trace metals. It is not produced as “food-grade water,” and it should not be treated as such.
So no: you should not drink it. You should not cook with it. You should not give it to pets. You should not use it on herbs, vegetables, or fruit trees if you plan to eat what grows there.
But here comes the part most people somehow miss: water does not need to be drinkable to be valuable.
Second Rule: Use It Where Clean Tap Water Is Wasted
Look around your own home for one day, and you will notice something awkward: households waste drinking-quality water constantly, without even thinking. Not that Crete generally has clean tap water, but that’s besides the point…
So what should you do with the dehumidifier water instead? Flush toilets, rinse balconies, mop the floors, car wash, fill steam irons, or splash it on tasks that do not require treated network water.
Dehumidifier water is ideal for the unglamorous jobs that eat water daily: mopping floors, rinsing outdoor areas, cleaning mop buckets, washing windows, soaking dirty cloths, flushing toilets. It even works well with steam irons precisely because it is low in minerals, helping reduce scale.
It is not glamorous. It is not poetic. It is simply common sense.
You Paid for the Electricity for It
A dehumidifier does not create water by divine intervention. It establishes it by consuming electricity. You literally pay money to extract moisture from the air. So when you pour that collected water down the drain, you are not only wasting water—you are also wasting the cost of producing it.
It is like ordering food delivery and then throwing the meal away because the plate is not pretty enough. If you want to be wasteful, at least do it in a way that does not insult mathematics.
Summer Water Stress
Crete can feel endless and abundant—until summer hits, the island becomes a different animal, and water demand rises. With tourist numbers and agricultural strains, the system is strained. Infrastructure shows its age. Pressure drops appear at the most inconvenient times. And suddenly, water becomes not a background utility but a topic people argue about in supermarkets.
When summers get dry, it is not the big speeches that matter. It is the invisible household habits.
This is why the dehumidifier-water habit is a perfect example of a bigger issue: many homes still behave as if water is unlimited, stable, and always available. That belief is becoming less realistic every year.
Saving a few liters daily will not “solve” a water crisis. But it changes the mindset, and mindset is where resilience begins.
Besides, this is not even a sacrifice. It is literally using what you already have.
What About Plants?
Dehumidifier water works beautifully for non-edible plants, primarily decorative balcony greenery. Many plants actually appreciate low-mineral water. It can reduce mineral buildup in pots and prevent that white crust that forms in Cretan heat. But if you are growing anything edible—tomatoes, herbs, peppers, lettuce—do not use it. Not because you will immediately poison your garden, but because it is not worth the risk of contaminating food. This is where we can grow up: use it for household chores, for decorative plants, and to keep your edible garden clean.
Crete’s humidity is both a discomfort and a resource. In 2026, that is not a cute statement; it is a practical survival truth.
If your home is pulling liters out of the air each day, you already have a small household water stream. Use it wisely. Save the drinking-quality water for drinking. Use reclaimed water for the jobs that do not need purity.
