Waterless car washes through to high pressure low-flow cleaners, can help you be efficient with your water use.
The days of 'watering' your drive are thankfully now long gone. However, we still need to clean our cars, bikes and boats. Smart technologies, from waterless car washes through to high pressure low-flow cleaners, can help you clean and be efficient with your water use.
Waterless car washes often include a UV filter in the finish, helping protect the car's paintwork. Low-flow high pressure cleaners use similar amounts of water as a water efficient shower heads i.e. less than 7 litres of water a minute. Efficient technologies such as recycling systems are also used in commercial car washes.
You can save water when cleaning your car at home by:
If you go to a car wash make sure it is a Water Saving Rating Five Star approved car wash - look out for the Australian Car Wash Association sign and Smart WaterMark logo. Generally, commercial car wash operators must meet certain requirements regarding water use and wastewater disposal. As a result, using a commercial car wash is a much more environmentally sustainable practice than washing a car at home.
By using fine nozzles, high-pressure hoses and recycled water reclaimed from the automatic wash bays, commercial car washes use very little potable (mains drinking) water. Self-service car washes do not use recycled water due to health and safety considerations. On average, a commercial car wash will use the same amount of water as washing one load of clothes, four minutes of garden watering or a five minute shower.
There is a five star rating scheme to help you choose the
most water efficient commercial car wash for your vehicle. The
Australian Car Wash Association's star rating: