The Environmental Concerns of Washing Your Car

There are environmental concerns associated with car washing that few ever stop to think about. Have you ever wondered what happens to all the "stuff" you wash off your car? Where does it go? It will eventually work its way along the curb to the storm drain.

Water passing into storm drains is not processed through a waste water treatment facility. The water discharges directly into waterways where it can contaminate aquatic life and even have an impact on drinking water in some locations.

Auto detailers have felt the impact of the threat of contamination in some locations. For example, in San Diego , detailers are required to contain the water runoff created from washing vehicles. This water must then be disposed of in an appropriate manner to prevent it from getting into storm drains. With San Diego being so close to the ocean, water runoff has a direct path to water contamination. The result is increased costs to the detailer, which is passed on to the customer of course.

So what is this contamination? Just thnk of what can be washed off the surface of your car. There is going to be oil and grease from the car itself as well as what is kicked up from the roadway. There can also be fuel if your tank overflowed when filling. You have exhaust residue. Then there are the other contaminates in the air that settle on the vehicle finish.

The standard recommendation that is made for preventing this contamination of waterways is to wash the vehicle on the grass rather than in the driveway. This way the contaminants will be absorbed into the ground instead of going into the storm drain. So now what have we done? That's right! We have simply traded contaminated water for contaminated soil.

Again the obvious solution for eliminating water runoff and associated impacts is to clean your vehicle without using water. Another problem solved by the use of waterless cleaning products.


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