WASHWORKS® Services
Save Water - Use a Professional Car Wash
"If you want to conserve water this summer, don't drag out the hose and bucket to wash your car. Take it to a professional car wash." Home washings was up to 100 gallons of water per car, according to an independent study by Lycott Environmental Research of Southbridge., Massachusetts. The typical do-it-yourselfer uses up to 148 gallons of water, the recent case study shows, on the other hand, the average automatic conveyorized car wash uses only 35 gallons of fresh water per car. That is about half the water used to wash a load of laundry.
Water is rapidly becoming one of our most valuable and threatened resources. Underground water sources (aquifers) have not been replenished during the past several years. Additionally many sources have been contaminated making them unusable.
Car washes are the most efficient means to clean your car, use the least amount of water and they are required by law to have interceptors and separators prior to releasing to the sanitary sewer system. All sewerage is treated, run off from your home car hash can enter the storm drain and discharge to a surface water body like the Chesapeake Bay. The EPA advises that "there are no acceptable detergents or soaps which can be discharges to a surface water body without treatment." There are no licensed or approved products which may be used to wash vehicles outside." Most wash detergents contain ingredients (called surficants) which can be toxic to sensitive stream organisms, reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water or have other detrimental effects on water and the aquatic life it supports.