Anybody in California washing their cars?

it will rain again someday, be prepared.

 

Ready for some rain.

 

As long as people are wondering about how they should wash cars, water lawns, and fill swimming pools it's kinda hard to take the whole drought thing seriously...especially when more than 3/4 of the water in Caly is used in big AG.

However (comma!) 2K1 Toaster is right. You can wash your car very effectively with very little water and as pointed out above, most car washes recycle their water...so if you're a wash once a week person then you can wash guilt-free.
I'd guess that restaurants use a lot more potable water than car washes do.

 

During Seattle's 1992 drought, when we had yard watering restrictions imposed, the official government advice was to use the commercial car washes. All the local washes recycled their water, so their net use per wash was much less than a common hose wash at home.

I don't have equivalent information for California's commercial washes, but suspect their practices may vary widely. Some communities are very good at being water efficient, and have utility rates that encourage it. But others a history of treating unmetered water as a birthright, resisting acknowledging the new reality of scarcity. E.g. half of Sacramento is still unmetered. All other large communities are now metered, but some still have water prices low enough to not force recycling.

California's overall water use is about 1000 gallons per person per day. Yes, that is about a thousand gallons. About 80% of that is for agriculture, the rest split between residential and commercial / industrial use. Citizens who can keep their household use under 50 gallons per person per day are not part of CA's water problem. A bucket-based home car wash can easily be arranged without blowing through that daily allotment.

 

I have several issues with automatic case washes:

1. They focus on cosmetic cleaning, miss the corners and cranies that harbour grit and gunk.

2. You miss the opputunity hand washing offers: to spot and deal with scratches and dings. Yes, you can just do a walk around, but nothing beats a chore that forces you to look the whole car over.

3. Automated car washes, some kinds, have been hard on the hybrid battery.

4. Again depending on the type, they can cause damage, leave swirls on the paint.

 

Even where I live in PA, my local car wash filters/recycles/warms (with solar panels), and it's been a long while since we've experienced a drought. I can thoroughly hand wash - enclosed for < $5. I absolutely patronize them in the winter.

 

HOW.?

 

HOW, Again.

 

How do I stop this?

 

grass, like all plants contributes to oxygen conversion, and as an added benefit, filters contaminants from rainfall and cools the air around your house to reduce energy costs.

 

Washing your car over the lawn can get you a two-fer. Use the water twice instead of once. Just make sure to use lawn- and stream-friendly products for the wash.

But one still shouldn't use an open hose for the wash. Any hose should have a shut-off nozzle.

 

great idea!

 

Only if I had a lawn!

 

There's a Shell gas station that uses recycled-filtered water in their systems that I use pretty often. It's only $4 and washes well. I don't feel guilty going through that at all.

 

The whole water conterversy is hysterical , Beuarocrats telling you how to save water, when Millions of gallons of drainage or street water get dumped into our rivers for the poor little fishys. Mlore Beuarocrats dumping excess water from our reservoirs, also for the fishys. And environment, and the Air. They will then tell you that drainage water is unsafe, for humans, BUT, it's all right for fishys. What BS. SHOULD YOU BE LUCKY OR UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH to visit a third world country, you will see them dumping oil right out onto the primitive street/sidewalk in front of their Auto repair shop. I have seen this in Bangkok. Our Beaurocrats are only one step up from this mentality.

 

I think lawns look nice.

When mown to 2 cm, I don't think they are very good oxygen sources or CO2 sinks. Whether their evaporation of water allows the house encircled to have lower summer cooling costs, do not know. Doubt it though. House summer problem is direct solar heating, not advection.

 

Don't care if you wash your cars. Clean windows are a safety feature, though.

 

Planting trees that will provide shade around the home is a good idea. I have to believe the trade off in energy savings for the homeowner offsets any water consumption.

Let the grass die out. It will probably come back again.

 

simple solution. set a reasonable price on amount per person needed for basics and tier it up to encourage conservation. out here, we have too much water, and 100+ year old distribution.

 

They have to finish putting in the meters first.