Friday, June 25, 2010

# save the planet saturday # water useage

Save the Planet Saturday


It's that time of year again. The time when we all look at our cars and go ewww, where did all of this grime come from? Over the winter, our cars get coated with road gunk (yes, that's the technical term) and come Spring and Summer, we all get gung ho about getting them all cleaned off.

So, what's the most eco-friendly way to get your car clean? It's not in the driveway, folks. In fact, washing your car in the driveway is one of the most environmentally unfriendly chores we can do at home. Think about it for a second. Where does all of that dirty, icky water go? It either drains into our grass or it drains into the storm drains. Most storm drain water isn't cleaned or treated, so you've just added a combination of chemicals (from the cleansers) and gas/oil/whatever fume residue right into the ground water. Yuck!  Not to mention that most "home car washes" use anywhere between 80 to 140 gallons of water! Ouch! That's a lot of water.

Did you know that the average commercial carwash only uses 45 gallons of water per car? Plus, laws in both Canada and the United States require that commercial carwashes to drain their wastewater into sewer systems. That means it gets treated before it's released back into the great outdoors. Plus, some car washes even recycle their rinse water! 

So, while this post probably didn't save your any money, hopefully it will stop and make you think before you head outside to scrub down that dusty automobile.
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