Serious environmental question

[taterguy]

What does more damage to the environment?

a) Washing the car at home where all the polluted water ends up in the watershed.

b) Driving to a car wash, which involves, well driving.

Vehicle in question is a 1999 Jetta.

It's about three miles round trip to the car wash.

[flvegan]

1. Eventually, car wash water ends up in the watershed, right?

Probably a lot more toxic crap in the car wash soap than in the Mother's (or whatever brand) you use at home.

Wash at home = cheaper, too.

[PeaceNikki]

2. Hmm. I never considered. I Googled and found these:

The Perceived Environmental Impact of Car Washing

PDF doc: http://bikeforpeace.org/carwash.pdf

Conclusion
Numerous metals and other chemicals exceed EPA standards in hand wash stations, highway runoff studies and commercial car washes, and common detergents are known to harm and alter aquatic organisms. Solutions range from simply using little to no detergents while washing vehicles on lawns to borrowing equipment from the local government for water filtration. Though no enforcement has been promulgated by the EPA, many cities, environmental organizations and government units have taken action in the USA and Canada. Enough evidence exists for the West Coast, Texas, Canada and the EPA to see the metals, detritus and detergents from car washing as a threat to waters in North America.

...

It sounds like It depends on what's in the products used (at home or elsewhere)

http://www.carwashguys.com/fundraisers/ch2.html#CAR%20WASH%20PRODUCTS

How do I know if the products I’m using are safe for the environment?

That’s a good question. The answer is they aren’t and no product is allowed in the storm drain. So your next question is, "If I use the waste wash water to water the grass in front of the school or a flower bed near a gas station, how do I know if it will kill the grass or plants?"

This question we can answer. Every product has a Material Safety And Data Sheet (MSDS). Read through the sheet and see if the diamond at the top of the sheet has a number higher than one in the box on the left. If it does, it will affect organic life. Look for products that have only ones or zeroes in the boxes in the diamond code at the top.

...

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/transport-tech/vroom-vroom/car-wash.php

Sudsing up your car in the driveway may get your hub caps to sparkle, but the untreated wastewater can also run off Ol' Betsy straight into storm drains and eventually into rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands, where it can degrade water quality and poison aquatic life.

The average home-brewed car wash uses more than 500 gallons of water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (For a sense of scale, it takes 25 gallons of water for a 5-minute shower and 35 minutes to fill a regular-size bathtub.)

Commercial car washes, on the other hand, use around 32 gallons of water per car, according to the International Carwash Association. They're also required by the 1972 Clean Water Act to drain their wastewater into sewer systems, where it gets treated before it's flushed back into the environment. Plus, many commercial car washes recycle and reuse their rinse water, which they send blasting through a computerized system of high-pressure nozzles and pumps to minimize water use.

Another alternative: The waterless car wash, which can be wiped off without the need to rinse. Eco Touch, Freedom, and Lucky Earth are just a few of the water-saving options that will get your auto gleaming like new.

[taterguy]

3. I suspected my laziness was helping the environment

Thanks!

[PeaceNikki]

4. I was happy to read that it's a win-win!

:D

[LeftyMom]

5. Best case scenario would be to stop at the car wash on the way to someplace else

rather than making a separate trip.

Car washes recycle water, while at home car washing water goes into storm drains and is not treated before being released into the watershed.

Reducing washes would be a good idea in either case. I get irritated by people who wash their car every time it's got a water spot, both because it's wasteful and because they need to get a life.

[taterguy]

6. I did stop at the library and beer store afterwards

Although it would have been within my power to ride my bike to those places.

Car got washed because it's used to take two large slobbery dogs to the dog park and frankly their vacuums are better than the ones we have at home.

[Fumesucker]

7. A clean car is a sign of a sick mind

;)

Oh, and 500 gallons of water to wash your car at home is utterly ridiculous.

[taterguy]

9. The 500 gallon figure did seem pulled out of someone's ass

I fill a bucket.

I rinse off the car.

20 gallons at the most.

Makes me wonder how many other cited statistics are just things that people make up.

[kestrel91316]

8. Washing at home is only a major issue if the water runs down to the

street and through the storm drains to pollute bodies of water. If you temporarily park the car on the lawn, or divert the runoff onto the lawn, then it soaks into the ground and is beneficial right there.

I cringe to think how many times I washed my car on the driveway at the house and left the hose running and the water went down the street. Should have rigged up a temporary sandbag situation.......

[taterguy]

10. So if you park on your lawn all the pollution stays on your own property?

[izquierdista]

11. What "pollution" are you talking about?

Soap is not really a pollutant, being biodegradable and all. Now if you use alkyl-phosphate detergents, that's a different story, the alkyl part may remain in the environment a long time and the phosphate may upset the local watershed.

Are you using organic solvents to remove tar and tire grime? Those are less bio-degradable, but if you collect up your rags and burn them, then you aren't polluting the ground or the water, just the air (and you can mitigate that with an efficient furnace).

If you car just has dirt on it, you can rinse that off with water, and I don't think moving dirt from point A to point B is "pollution".

[kestrel91316]

13. And if the water IS "polluted" (LOL), I guess some folks definitely

want to pawn it off on someone else so they don't have to suffer actual consequences for their actions.

We are so fucked when even DUers are like this......

[kestrel91316]

12. The soap residue soaks into the ground where it is broken down

by microbes long before it can seep into any aquifer. And the water feeds the lawn.

No wonder the world is in trouble. Basic common sense is practically nonexistant......