The Soapy control or grass to filter out harmful substances before they reach our Sedan waterways. Scummy So how can you reduce the impact to the Streams environment when washing your car? Here Connection are some tips: ●Go to a commercial car wash when your For many, car washing is a springtime ritual. car needs cleaning to conserve water and Often, citizens don’t know that by washing prevent stormwater pollution. Commercial all that winter grime off their vehicles they car washes recycle water and might actually be causing harm to our local send wastewater to treatment systems waterways. Water entering storm drains, where it is treated before being discharged unlike water that enters sanitary sewers, into a waterway. does not undergo treatment before it is discharged into our waterways. When cars If you must wash your car at home, use are washed on streets and driveways, that the environmentally friendly car washing dirty water eventually winds up in rivers, tips listed below to reduce water use and streams, creeks, and lakes. prevent stormwater pollution: Washing one car may not seem to be a problem, but collectively car washing activity ●Use a bucket and special biodegradable adds up to big problems for our local lakes, soap. Use as little soap and water as creeks and streams. Pollution associated possible. Look for products that do not with car washing degrades water quality contain nonylphenol surfactants that act as while also finding its way into sediments, endocrine disrupters that change the sex of impacting aquatic habitats. fish and phosphates that contribute to algal blooms and low oxygen levels in Washing your car is only a problem if you waterways. When you are done, dump your don’t know where or how to do it correctly. bucket of soapy water into a sink, drain, or The average homeowner uses 116 gallons toilet that goes to a treatment system or into of water to wash a car! Most commercial car a vegetated area. washes use 60 percent less water for the ●Use a trigger spray nozzle to control water entire process than a homeowner uses just flow from the hose and reduce water use. to rinse the car. Among the many impacts of ●Wash the car on a grassy area or other motor vehicles on our environment, car porous surface where soil microbes and washing has been noted by water quality vegetation can filter and break down experts as a serious contributor to water pollutants and keep wash water out of the pollution. Water that runs off a car when it is street and storm drains. washed in a driveway, street, or parking lot ●You can also dike off your driveway and can contain substances that pollute the direct wash water into a landscaped area or environment. Dirty water containing soap, vacuum it up with a ShopVac rather than detergents, residue from allowing it to run into the street. exhaust fumes, gasoline, heavy metals from ●Support environmentally friendly charity car rust, and motor oils can wash off cars and wash events that block off nearby storm flow directly to storm drains and into the drains, use minimal amounts of water, and nearest creek or stream where it can harm divert wash water to the sanitary sewer or water quality and wildlife. The phosphates nearby landscaping. from soap can cause excess algae to grow. Excessive algae smell bad, look bad, and harm water quality. As algae decay, the process uses up oxygen in the water that Source Information for this Article fish need. Car wash fundraisers can be a Provided by the EPA, DEP and significant source of this kind of pollution. San Luis Obispo County, These events are usually held in heavily California paved areas where there is little runoff