A Discussion on Mobile Car Washing and Storm Water Run-Off Enforcement - Reality Check

Over the years, states, cities, and county governments have become more stringent with their storm water rules. In 1972 The Federal Clean Water Act prohibited anything but fresh water from flowing into the waterways in the United States. That law was put forth by Congress and signed by President Nixon was to prevent oil spills, and strip mining from polluting fresh water supplies; lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and the affluent flowing into the ocean. Nevertheless, now we have NPDES permitting which are required by all levels of government.

It seems lately it's been getting out of hand, and actually it's been getting a little ridiculous for about the last 10 or 15 years. Almost 2 decades ago now, I can remember doing car wash fundraisers in a California city, and being harassed by the storm water enforcement for allowing the wash water to run off into a storm drain. This made the citizens quite irate, because the fundraiser was for a local youth soccer team. And it is well-known that car wash fundraisers are about as American as baseball and apple pie. Today, we have storm water enforcement people running around telling mobile car wash and mobile detailers that they can't let the water run off into a storm drain.

That is how the law reads, and it is not allowed. Still, if you wash your car in your driveway you might use some wicked household chemicals to clean your car and perhaps 100 gallons of water will flow into a storm drain. If a mobile washer cleans your car, chances are they will use 4 to 5 gallons to wash your car, and that's not enough runoff to go much of anywhere, in other words it probably won't even make it to a storm drain, and barely down the gutter to the house next door. Nevertheless, we have increased enforcement on these types of small businesses.

This is not to say that some mobile car wash companies or operators are not breaking the law by using the wrong kinds of chemicals to clean cars, and letting lots of water flow into a storm drain. Yes, that is not allowed, and they should be talked to about it. But, we must also understand that when cars drive down the road they leak oil, and the first time it rains all of that oil and all those petroleum distillates go into the storm drain, and therefore they flow into rivers, lakes, and the ocean. And let's not forget there are over 300 million vehicles in the United States, and they sell 17 million more every year.

Shouldn't we go after the things which are hurting our environment the most first, and then work down the line? That's not to say we should let people get away with things they shouldn't do, but rather we should enforce the law equally without hypocrisy, or rethink what we're doing with regards to environmental rules and regulations. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it. You may e-mail me if you have any concerns, questions, case studies, or comments.