Attachment 4 - Stormwater Managment Plan

Even though commercial car washing facilities employ water treatment systems and
in many cases recycle the wastewater, surveys conducted by the International
Carwash Industry and the ACWA from 1999 to 2008 indicate that the majority of
home washers consistently feel that residential car washing is better for the
environment than commercial car washes. From this information, it appears that
more effective public education efforts will be needed to affect sufficient behaviour
changes to reduce discharges caused by home car washing activity.

The survey data also indicates that people will act in a more environmentally
responsible way as more accurate information is attained. Specifically, in response
to the question Do you think that knowing commercial car washes can be more water
efficient and less polluting would influence you to use commercial car washes more in
the future? The majority in the ACWA Survey of Car Washing Habits and Intentions,
Oct 2008 said yes.


Conclusions

The results of this paper show a dramatic amount of pollutants from home car
washing going into Australia’s streams, rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal
waterways. The ACWA is of the belief that this is an untenable situation and must
be addressed by environmental authorities. In most states activities that put the
above pollutants in the described concentrations into the storm water system are
illegal. At a minimum a public perception campaign to change behaviour should be
undertaken to limit the practice of washing cars on hard surfaces and promote the
washing of cars on porous surfaces and to encourage the more environmentally
sustainable practice of washing cars at a commercial car wash

Sources

ACWA, Survey of Car Washing Habits and Intentions, Oct 2008

ACWA, Recycled Water in Commercial Car Washes. July 2009

Bureau of Statistics, Registration of passenger motor vehicles 2008

City of Federal Way Public Works Department, Residential Car Washwater Monitoring
Study, July 2009

State of the Derwent Estuary, A review of pollution sources, loads and environmental
quality data 1997-2003, Graham Gree and Christine Coughanowr.

Environmental Protection Agency

Brown, C., Water effluent and solid waste characteristics in the professional car wash
industry, International Carwash Association, 2000.




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