Coming to a city near you, "no car washes outside your OWN house"
This post was published 1 year 11 months 19 days ago and its content may not be valid anymore.That four wheeled pride and joy sitting in your driveway – due for a car wash – will probably stay dirty unless you take it to a drive through car wash. Cities across the country are debating the idea of denying homeowners the privilege of washing their own vehicles outside their own house(s).
In King County, Wash., local officials are mulling a move to prohibit residents from washing their cars on the street over concerns that the runoff is sloshing into Puget Sound. In Fairfax, Calif., fearing similar runoff pollution, officials have proposed a ban on washing cars in front of one’s home, with citations and possible imprisonment for violators.
Read more on the Wall Street Journal. It’s for the fishes right? Keep your cars dirty for the sake of helping our eco-system stay healthy. What are your thoughts?
While it is for the environment and all that good crap, I’m rather against this — there are soaps out there that degrade without killing all the precious fish. Not so hard, people.
This is outragous!! I live in king county. If this law passes, I will actively protest it. and wash my car 2x as much in my driveway. What will they do next? Ban running at recess? This world is becoming a bunch of pussis. It’s making me sick.
I kinda agree with this because of the chemicals used in some of the soaps and such, but as mentioned above… I think there is a little more lenient answer. Enforce certain wash at home soap types (that won’t kills things) and if caught using a soap that can harm the water supply or animals that inhabit it fine those mofos!
whats next?! take away my ability to dump trash in local nature sanctuaries?!?! what in the world am I gonna do with my acid and lead filled car batteries?!?!! ;)
america.. land of the free
this goes under the same category as “divorce is bad for the environment”
I’d like to ask a question…
If you were buying car wash/soap and saw a bottle that was (not rammed down your throat cheesy al gore labled) “environmentally safe” vs. a Meguiars etc touting nothing about “safe”…
would you be more inclined to buy it?
Where does all that dirt on your car come from? The Road Right.
And what happens when it rains? All that dirt and grime gets washed into the river system anyway.
Go Figure
And this is worse than the vast majority of other crap being spewed everywhere else? Quick, someone hand me a plastic bag! I need to cover my car’s tailpipe because it’s polluting the atmosphere!
Why not attack pollution where it’s most likely to cause positive change: corporations.
I use quick washes, as they are good enough for just that…a quick wash. You need to hand wash your car every so often to really get it clean. Are the governments going to compensate car owner’s for when then value of their cars are lower than they should be because the exterior has fallen apart?
Sorry, I worked for an adhesives company for 5 years. They were continually cited for excessive chemical waste going into Mill Creek, which dumped into the OH River.
A few car washes, versus industrial pollution? Please.
This is not such a bad idea. Are we Americans not going to make any personal sacrifices for the environment? God knows what we are going to do when the economy forces us, perhaps someday soon, to make sacrifices for lack of fuel, like carpool instead of driving an SUV with one person in it. I fear we are spoiled beyond redemption.
Seems like the real issue is adding toxic soap to the environment, more than wasting water in most circumstances.
Towards the end of the WSJ article, there’s a solution, which is a special environmentally-friendly cleaner that you buff the car with. Then there’s no soap–or extra pollutants from the muck on your car–going down the drain. It takes more time to use, but my feeling is that if you’re out on the street washing your car, you’ve got time to spare anyhow!
As if cops don’t have anything more productive to do than to be on the look-out for those evil car washers…I would think they should be targeting the manufacturers of car wash soap with those types of damaging chemicals.
@LUIS
my point exactly ;)
Think about the 0 trans fat movement…. Cali outlawed trans fat… 3 days later everything in the damn market had a huge label (0 trans fat)… I would imagine the soap market for consumer car washing would be much the same… esspecially with the “Green” fad going around right now… it’s like an Atkins Diet for the enviorment.