Back in the day, we used to drive our car over to our parent's house when we wanted to wash it.
We'd park it on the driveway, hose it down, then use all of Dad's fancy car-washing toys to make it shine. We didn't do it all that often, so we didn't worry about the water running down the driveway into the gutter (not to mention the nasty cleaning solution -- but that's for another post). We were naive. As California stares down the first official drought in the last 20 years, we realize that every drop counts.
Now, we live too far from our parent's to drive over for the monthly car wash. Instead, we head over to Kaady Carwash (it's one of the drive-thru variety). Man, those things seem to use a lot of water.
But wait! According to a report we heard on NPR this morning, a lot of those drive-thru washes, or touchless washes, reuse their water. Yeah, all that water that washes your car is captured, filtered and used on the next car -- what can't be salvaged is sent on to a local water treatment plant.
That's cool. So, until you can figure out a way to reuse your own personal car wash water, we'd recommend asking your local car wash if they reclaim their own water. If they do, that's definitely your best bet.
Here are some facts from Kaady:
Home car wash = 80 - 140 gallons
Kaady Car Wash = 30 - 45 gallons
image via Kaady
During the drought back in the late 80s, I recall our neighbor parking his truck on his lawn and washing the car there with plain soap and water - seemed to do the trick and kept the grass a little happier.
view bloo_mountain's profile
Unfortunately for us on the other side of the country, our car washes are generally attached to gas stations...and while they more than likely reuse the water, I really doubt they filter it -- sometimes going into a car wash is like driving into a sewer and they simply smell awful.
view SexyAnteater's profile
Timely post -- just vacuumed out my husband's car and was prepping to wash it as a way to start off Father's Day weekend...maybe I'll just rub down the bugs on the front by hand and drive over (just a few blocks) to the car wash...one of the car washes by our house is stand alone and looks an awful lot like your diagram. I will see if I can find out if they reclaim water and report back.
Thanks!
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Well, the lady at our car wash didn't know if they re-claim the water, but I'm glad I went, because there is a fox den by the car wash -- and during the wash I got to watch 3 baby foxes cavorting in the grass! I always love seeing "wild" nature in an urban setting as it makes me feel as though somehow we are all still connected.
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If it is a commercial carwash, the water has to be recycled. I posted about this last year.
http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2007/09/missing-guest.html
Driveway carwashing is one of the top 2 sources of groundwater pollution in LA. I learned this at a UCLA Institute of the Environment meeing about groundwater hydrology.
Here's an excerpt from what I learned:
n fact, the stuff coming off cars is so toxic, that the sediment in the water holding tank at the car wash has to be hauled away by a toxic waste hauler. That's right. Road grime is toxic. In addition to the organic alphabet soup of petrochemicals, they also contain lead residue and heavy metals that escape from catalytic converters.
Commercial car washes are required by law to recycle water and properly dispose of the sludge. The heavy metals can even by separated and recycled. The platinum and palladium is too valuable to waste.
view Grace2's profile
I don't wash my car often, but to extend the time between washes, I wash only the windows (inside and out) with a glass cleaner (green, of course). Its nice to see out the windows clearly and makes the car feel cleaner.
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