February 03, 2008
Consider for a moment that the average American uses 150-200 gallons of water per day. This number represents the essentials like showering, toilet flushes, and teeth brushing, but doesn’t include things like car washing, lawn watering, or baths for relaxation. In fact, most professional car washes use 30-50 gallons per car. If they are hyper vigilant about the environment and have first class equipment, they’ll use about 10 gallons per car. Most car washes serve about 200-300 cars per day with large locations washing over 1,000!
The math is staggering when you consider that pressure washers are targeted by local governments for drought restrictions when car washes that “recycle” are permitted to continue operating. A below average car wash with superior equipment serving 200 cars per day will use approximately 2,000 gallons per day. More realistically, the average car wash will use 5,000-10,000 gallons per day. Alternatively, a pressure washer at the height of the busy season will use about 1000 to 1200 gallons of water, assuming they are washing 5-6 2200sf homes at about 200-220 gallons per wash.
Observe how many restaurants are on any busy street in your city. Each restaurant washes their equipment, insists that employees wash hands repeatedly, and does enormous amounts of dishes (one of the biggest culprits in residential water usage). They also use water to cook, clean floors, and some bring complementary glasses of water to each patron whether they drink it or not. It’s fair to say that an average restaurant will use thousands of gallons of water on any given day, yet they are never mentioned during drought restrictions.
The image of a pressure washer spraying water from a high pressure wand invokes anger in individuals, especially when the same individuals aren’t permitted to water their own lawns. The perception is that the operator is being wasteful, when in fact the water usage on an entire home is minimal in comparison to most local businesses. This perception leads to bans on such activities as a quick remedy for local governments to appease the public without considering the trickle down ramifications of prohibiting cleaning.
This knee-jerk reaction, coupled with media-fed fear of cities running out of water leaves a lasting impression on the general public. In the event that a pressure washing company can afford special privilege licensing, or even qualify for such permissions, the perception is already ingrained in the minds of their clientele … water usage is bad. However, because businesses like restaurants utilize water in more covert ways, large box stores carrying inventories of non sellable plants that need watering, and other businesses like car washes operate under the guise of “recycling”, they aren’t discriminated against by local government or perceived as bad by local residents.
How do we, as pressure washers in the Carolinas, combat this kind of misconception? Just like the gallons of water usage, the answer lies in numbers. One pressure washer attempting to reach a few property owners to educate on the benefit and necessity of outdoor cleaning, or singularly complaining to a local official isn’t nearly as effective as a unified, organized group of individuals presenting a case to the proper governmental entities or media outlet. Use resources available to you like the PWNC to reach out to the public, change the limited way of thinking and make your case heard.
For more information on drought conditions, local restrictions or how we can help in your area of the Carolinas, contact the PWNC.
PWNC
Power Washers Network of the Carolinas
The math is staggering when you consider that pressure washers are targeted by local governments for drought restrictions when car washes that “recycle” are permitted to continue operating. A below average car wash with superior equipment serving 200 cars per day will use approximately 2,000 gallons per day. More realistically, the average car wash will use 5,000-10,000 gallons per day. Alternatively, a pressure washer at the height of the busy season will use about 1000 to 1200 gallons of water, assuming they are washing 5-6 2200sf homes at about 200-220 gallons per wash.
Observe how many restaurants are on any busy street in your city. Each restaurant washes their equipment, insists that employees wash hands repeatedly, and does enormous amounts of dishes (one of the biggest culprits in residential water usage). They also use water to cook, clean floors, and some bring complementary glasses of water to each patron whether they drink it or not. It’s fair to say that an average restaurant will use thousands of gallons of water on any given day, yet they are never mentioned during drought restrictions.
The image of a pressure washer spraying water from a high pressure wand invokes anger in individuals, especially when the same individuals aren’t permitted to water their own lawns. The perception is that the operator is being wasteful, when in fact the water usage on an entire home is minimal in comparison to most local businesses. This perception leads to bans on such activities as a quick remedy for local governments to appease the public without considering the trickle down ramifications of prohibiting cleaning.
This knee-jerk reaction, coupled with media-fed fear of cities running out of water leaves a lasting impression on the general public. In the event that a pressure washing company can afford special privilege licensing, or even qualify for such permissions, the perception is already ingrained in the minds of their clientele … water usage is bad. However, because businesses like restaurants utilize water in more covert ways, large box stores carrying inventories of non sellable plants that need watering, and other businesses like car washes operate under the guise of “recycling”, they aren’t discriminated against by local government or perceived as bad by local residents.
How do we, as pressure washers in the Carolinas, combat this kind of misconception? Just like the gallons of water usage, the answer lies in numbers. One pressure washer attempting to reach a few property owners to educate on the benefit and necessity of outdoor cleaning, or singularly complaining to a local official isn’t nearly as effective as a unified, organized group of individuals presenting a case to the proper governmental entities or media outlet. Use resources available to you like the PWNC to reach out to the public, change the limited way of thinking and make your case heard.
For more information on drought conditions, local restrictions or how we can help in your area of the Carolinas, contact the PWNC.
PWNC
Power Washers Network of the Carolinas