Clean Car and Dirty Water
Along with back-to-school sales and yellow buses this time of year, there’s another annual sighting: school fundraisers! It’s necessary in today’s budget world for kids to be raising money for sports, music, and art programs. One standby, the car wash, is still in practice, with kids holding up poster board signs to gain the attention of drivers to pull over to get their car washed. It makes you smile – or does it?
When cars are washed on hard surfaces such as parking lots, the wash water (including the soap, dirt and grease) runs into nearby storm drains and flows directly into our local waterways. This can contribute to polluted waterways and damage fragile marine habitat.
A great alternative to hosting your own car wash fundraiser is to partner with a commercial car wash to sell car-wash tickets. These operations capture dirty wash water and reuse it or send it to the sanitary sewer system for treatment, which is the best solution.
But if your cheering squad or theatrical group is looking forward to scrubbing bumpers themselves, there are ways to eliminate or reduce the consequences of the dirty water runoff. One of the best things you can do is create a car wash kit to block the storm drain and divert the dirty wash water into grassy areas. Kits can include a drain cover, submersible pump, and garden hose to block the storm drain and divert the dirty wash water into grassy areas.
Here’s a cool video created by our friends at askhrgreen.org that explains how this works: Fundraiser Car Wash Kit Tutorial – YouTube Some local storm water offices even have car washing kits that you can borrow!
You should also keep this information in mind when you’re hand-washing your own vehicles. Below are some tips, or you can read the full fact sheet from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality here:
- Use biodegradable, phosphate-free, water-based cleaners
- Use a hose nozzle to conserve water and decrease flow of water to storm drain
- Wash cars on grassy or gravel surfaces where water can be absorbed
- Wring sponges and rags into a bucket instead of onto the ground
- Empty buckets into sinks, toilets or grassy areas
So whether you’re organizing a car wash for a fundraiser, or keeping your own vehicle shining like a beauty, aim for a clean car and avoid the dirty water runoff!