Colonists didn’t have running water. Water came from a stream or well and had to be carried in to the kitchen. (One gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds, not including the weight of the bucket.)

Since water came at a premium, I imagine they reused it – for cleaning dishes and utensils, for wiping surfaces. It’s likely they had a problem with cross-contamination. In this video, a reenactment of Early American cooking, they cut raw meat on the same board as raw vegetables:

I actually like that video, and their whole YouTube series:
https://www.youtube.com/@EarlyAmerican

I’ve only watched a few. It still has a bit of fantasy associated with it (their clothes are too clean) but it does show how much time and labor was involved in preparing meals. In the video I linked above, Justine had to make butter by churning milk before she could add it to the cookie batter.