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Cutting down on Water Usage in the Car Wash Industry?

Due to the drought issues which persist still in many states we are seeing the emergence of a new type of car wash in America; one which is indeed quite healthy for the environment. Some car washes are now recycling 90-95% of their wash water, yes that means the water is used over and over and the filters are getting clogged. The POTWs; Publicly Owned Treatment Works must accept high concentrated wastewater once the reclaim tanks are dumped. The smell this creates is also a big deal. In a full service carwash, which there are about 20,000 in the US they will have problems with these nearly 100% reclaim systems.

Coin-ops use 7 gallons of water there are 30,000 of these, recycling can be tough because you never know what kind of manure someone will clean off their vehicles. The Industry sector even has an email picture floating around where someone is using the coin-op spray gun at a self serve car wash to wash a cow in the bay. Gas Stations often have car washes too; there are 30,000 with roll over car washes in the United States alone. These issues will determine the future of the industry and they installation of such systems as water issues become more critical. The car wash industry’s reputation and their relative reputations with the consumers of America are also at risk.

Of Course water is a very serious issue, our company (a mobile car wash) has often been asked to wash for multi-tenant housing complexes and they say definitely bring your own water. Many multi-unit housing complexes are moving to sub-metering of water as discussed in;

http://www.multi-housingnews.com Front page of Magazine in April.

It was also stated in the May issue that many complexes have discovered that a shared laundry area tends to use on average 3.9 times less water per unit. The housing company can shave $20 per month off the rent or raise profits, so other industries are addressing these issues too. It will take a joint effort for the largest water using businesses to conserve, but the trend is evident as the droughts go on. The sub metering for apartment complexes can cost $585.00 average per unit to install. The laundry mat area of the complex makes $39,000 per year on average per 100 units. For more water saving information on laundries go to; http://www.laundrywise.com .

Apartment markets have been down due to strong new housing starts and job loses in metros in the last recession, now recovering as the job markets improve and unemployment stays below 5.5%. Also very strong all along have been the apartment complexes at colleges. Texas is strongest in this recovery of vacancy rates; San Antonio 6.5% vacancy, Houston 3.2%, Dallas is doing wonderful at nearly 100% occupancy in apartment markets and will soon have all the jobs lost in telecom recovered as well as new Lockheed Jobs moving in fast. But no matter what high water use business you are in or where you are located; there is one thing for certain, if you are in a drought region you will need to be thinking on ways to conserve water. Think about it.

By Lance Winslow

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