We had some major storms last winter so I thought I’d be able to wash my own car using bucket of soapy water and garden hose w/shut-off attachment. But it appears I’m wrong. Here’s what the restriction seem to be:
Limits on Washing Vehicles: Washing of vehicles, except at a commercial car washing facility that utilizes recycled water or re-circulating water system to capture or reuse water.
What do you think, does the part that says — re-circulating water system to capture or reuse water — represent a viable loophole? What if I block the water from draining down the curb, dam it up, scoop the water up into a bucket, and pour the water onto the garden?
I think you should just leave the car as is. The only time my wife’s car ever gets washed is on the way to the dealer to turn it in at the end of the 3 year lease. We dont care if it gets dirty during its time with us.
San Jose has a sort of desert climate so water is usually scarce. But I’m thinking a better way to handle water restrictions is the water bill. Rather than tell folks how to use their water, if they use a lot of water, they pay a lot of money. And if they use more water than most of their neighbors, they pay much, much more. What do you think? Better method, or worse method?
With my method, I could skip a shower and use the water to wash my car. No neighbors tattling on each other.
Your method would not work because while those of lesser means would use it, those who have more money would simply not skip showers and they would wash their cars and then bitch about the water bill to anyone who will listen.
I usually get few paint scratches at the car wash, not so much w/home car washing. If I spray it off before going to car wash that eliminates the scratching problem, but spraying then washing seems to go against the idea of saving water. Also concerned that the re-used water contains salts, leading to eventual rust problems.
The article in the paper said the car wash filters the water before it is sent to the treatment plant. I have always questioned that and it seems like it recycles the water so that the road salt is just sprayed all over my car. Using the car wash just seems to encourage surface rust instead of the driveway.
At any rate, isn’t it just time to move to a more free environment? Just get a piece of paper and list all the restrictions and ask yourself if it is worth it.
Find out what day they drain off the dirty water. It is not recycled forever, they have to use clean water at some point as the old water will get just too contaminated with chemical, oils, etc… to ever clean the cars… The two car washes near me do it on Monday morning, after the weekend rush… It’s also the least busy then…
At least one of your neighbors will be mad enough at you for circumventing the rules that they will alert the water police. Unless you shower in the front yard, no one will know that you use shower water for car washing. As far as watering the plants or lawn, you aren’t allowed to do that either are you? I’d use a touchless car wash if you are concerned about the finish of your 30+ year old car and truck.
The rules and laws are so much a mishmash and ever evolving that I would not try any of these suggestions…
In West Texas in the mid '90 during droughts, it was lawful to wash a car or water your lawn if you had a well, then the law changed and you could do neither as the underground aquifers were being depleted. And you were not even allowed to grade your land to try to conserve the rain water that fell.
And if you put buckets in the bath tub to collect the shower water may not be an option either as how will the Water Police know it is “used” water and not that you merely filled the bucket from the bathtub spigot?
Since you did not “write the water rules,” don’t expect your “game playing” to get you very far… You just might get the card that says, “Go directly to jail, Do not collect $200…”
I know it seems silly, but we can still water plants and lawns all we like, w/some minor restrictions, but, careful, might go to jail if you wash your car. Makes a person wonder what would happen if any of the lawn sprinkler water hits your car … lol …
In my area, 2/3 of a typical residential water bill is fixed amount, called a “service fee” , and 1/3 is proportional to the amount of water used. That’s of course the wrong pricing strategy to get the customers to conserve water. My proposal would be to eliminate the service fee completely, and charge only for the amount of water used, charging proportionally more (tiered pricing) for those who use more than allotted. For example if grandma uses 1 CCF (hundred cubic feet) in one month, she’d pay $20. If her next store neighbor used 2 CCF, they’d pay $40. If the neighbor further down the street used 4 CCF, they’d pay $120; $40 surcharge for using more than allotted.
Water bills compared to current system, water-conservation Grandma would come out big winners, paying considerably less, neighbor next store would probably still pay a little less, big water user down the street would pay more. Really big water users would pay a lot more.
