Should all carwashes being built in the future be commissioned to collect all the water coming off the cars to be recycled and reused? Should all rain water coming onto the property, perhaps even adjoining properties be sent thru a similar system to treat, filter and condition the water to be used to wash cars?

Could you build a car wash which relied on rain storm water with reservoirs and recycling using all the water over and over again to prevent waste, conserve water and perhaps even not have any city water hook ups or sewer discharges at all; a perfectly environmentally friendly car wash system for the twenty first century? Well, yes this is all possible. How so you ask?

Well recently a smart Business Marketing Student came up with this concept and pitched the idea to an online think tank, to ask them if; A) Anyone had ever done this before and B) If there was equipment already available which could be used to make it possible.

It appears our fellow Marketing Student and Thinker, Paula Chavis, has hit the jackpot on both accounts. In that yes such equipment does exist and it would only be a matter of installing it and no, no one has ever done anything like this on this level or scale to my knowledge. Previously before retirement, I was indeed in the car wash industry myself.

How could this best be done? Well with a series of dips or concrete canals thru the parking lot which were indented about 2-3 inches like a reverse speed bump and with all areas sloped towards it. Adjacent property run off could also be collected, by use of small grated troughs running along their perimeters and towards the car wash, which would include all rain gutter run off too. The car wash would always have plenty of water and would not need city water hook up, but rather a large reservoir of pre-filtrated storm water run off.

Currently in the car wash industry there are plenty of fully self-contained close loop systems, which recycle the water and reuse it over and over again. This concept would be taking that concept to a whole new level. Indeed there is 5-7 gallons loss of water thru evaporation during the drying process and ending up on the towels and/or left on the car wash property while dripping. Most of this would then be collected unless a super hot day. Additionally the water that drips off the car as it drives down the street from the car wash would then be compensated for by the collection of storm water from the rain and the run off from the adjacent properties. Consider all this n 2006.