Washing a Car in Your Own Driveway in Washington State is a Crime

Posted by Alex in Car & Vehicle, Crime & Law on September 30, 2008 at 3:36 pm


If you want to save a few bucks, skip the car wash and wash your car in your own driveway.

Except if you live in Washington State, that is. There, washing your car in your own driveway is illegal:

Washing your car or boat in the driveway or street is a residential ritual as American as backyard barbecues. But the state of Washington is telling its local governments they must prohibit home car washing unless residents divert the wash water away from storm drains, where they say it causes water pollution.

"I understand this is something people have done for a long time," says Bill Moore, water quality specialist with the Washington state Department of Ecology, which is requiring the ban. "It’s not something we should be doing any longer."

He says the soapy runoff is toxic to salmon and other fish and that small metal particles that wash off cars, such as brake dust, is harmful, too.

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COMMENT

26 comments to "Washing a Car in Your Own Driveway in Washington State is a Crime"

  1. Tony
    September 30th, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    Its illegal to wash your car here in Santa Fe, NM. But for a different reason. They dont want us wasting water.

  2. aaa
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

    It’s common in all European Union countries too.

  3. James Schend
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    I’ll just redirect the water into a nearby creek instead of storm drains, and that should make it all hunky-dory, right?

  4. Sofar
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    The automated car wash is a good ole slice of Americana too. They even wrote a song about it. And besides, salmon.

  5. kid_icarus
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    i wonder if this is in a partial attempt to decrease the “dead zones” in the ocean around there. totally am for the law though.

  6. Ken
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Unfortunately, not exactly true:

    http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2008news/2008-266.html

  7. red
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pm

    I was under the impression there that it had been illegal for quite some time. Although at the time I thought it was part of their water conservation efforts (in seattle, anyway). I was just a short term visitor though.

  8. Scared of Rays
    September 30th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    kid_icarus, what do you think the car wash places do? I’ll wager most of them drain into the storm systems anyway.

    I’d also wager that sewage treatment doesn’t remove soap from wastewater.

  9. Stratoblogster
    September 30th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    On a somewhat related note: In Washington State, rainwater is considered property of the state, making it technically illegal to catch & save rainwater for house plants. How long till they figure out how to enforce that one?

  10. ScottC
    September 30th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Yeah, nothing strange here in Australia either. Washing the car is illegal anywhere except a car-wash, because of the wastage of water.

  11. DOJ
    September 30th, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    this is why my car is so dirty

  12. Johnny Cat
    September 30th, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    This was shocking to me as a WA resident who has been watching this story, and as Ken points out, it’s not true. They’ve been mulling it over. USA Today is crap.

  13. trevorb
    September 30th, 2008 at 8:42 pm

    This isn’t really as big of a deal as it sounds, you can still wash your car as long as it’s parked in the grass or a gravel driveway.

  14. Christophe
    September 30th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    Water management will be a concern as big as house heating, so it’s good news politicians are getting serious about it.

    As for the brake dust, it will be released in streams while driving in the rain as well, so…?

  15. Ken
    September 30th, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Curious … I’ve never seen someone in the average suburban subdivision park their car on the front lawn to wash it. Aren’t there rules against that (for appearance’s sake, I guess), or just the fear of messing up the lawn?

  16. heyitse
    September 30th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

    Why do you need to get your car so clean? Does it drive faster with less dust?

  17. Johnny Cat
    October 1st, 2008 at 12:01 am

    @ heyitse, it actually saves gas by making the aerodynamics of the vehicle work like they’re supposed to, dirt-free.

    @ Christophe, i’m skeptical that rain washes off brake dust, as I gaze upon my rained upon wheels. I like to hand wash at those coin operated places that are actually concrete walls.

  18. TwoDragons
    October 1st, 2008 at 4:54 am

    It seems like a good idea, but what about the industrial debris that already washes down the storm drain as it is? Drips of oil, rubber residue from tires on the street, exhaust residue, random bits of garbage, cigarette butts (the WORST!), etc. Unless they scrub the roads hospital-clean every day, it’s a bit futile, don’t you think?

    Not that I don’t endorse any measure to keep the streams clean, of course. I’ve watched some very beautiful areas get really mucked up by all the trash us humans generate and any efforts we put forth to reduce that are great.

    –TwoDragons

  19. Jimbo
    October 1st, 2008 at 7:59 am

    Georgia was also under a water ban all summer. Only the 40,000 illegal aliens in north west Georgia had clean cars.

    It was just a few weeks ago that you could wash your car on an odd-even basis according to your house number. Mine is Saturday morning before 10 am. No watering after 10 am..

  20. Scotchdrnkr
    October 1st, 2008 at 8:25 am

    Most car washes have a trap in there system to catch the oil & other stuff before it gets into the municipal system. Some of the newer car washes even recycle the bulk of their water thru filters and reuse on the next car.

  21. just a guy
    October 1st, 2008 at 10:12 am

    Did people not notice the comment about it being not true?

    It amazing what people will try to pull over on us in the name of environmentalism.

    If you can find it, watch Penn and Teller’s debunk of our recycling system. I believe it was on their show “Bulls**t”… season 2?

  22. bigyaz
    October 1st, 2008 at 10:50 am

    Johnny Cat: If you actually read the story before commenting you’ll find it is completely accurate: The Department of Ecology can’t enforce this; it’s going to get local municipalities do so. And they’re not banning washing cars; it’s the runoff.

  23. Skipweasel
    October 1st, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Great Britain’s in the EU and I’ve never heard of this here. Not that I was my car.

  24. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    October 1st, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    We rarely wash the car. Our neighbour makes up for it (their cars get weekly washings, whether they need them or not).

  25. chris tackett
    October 2nd, 2008 at 12:08 am

    at first glance, it does seem odd, but the environmental impact really is significant with all the runoff and added water usage. we did a story on this earlier this week:

    http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/diy-car-wash.html

    not saying it should be illegal, but washing your own car isn’t the greenest way to go.

  26. MoonCake
    October 3rd, 2008 at 7:06 am

    we can solve so many problems like this with some simple solutions. beside the ways laid out in the article presented by ken, why not try these things as well:

    to combat the issue of wasting water, why not collect it, filter it, and re-use it for future car washing in the same location?

    to combat the issue of hazardous cleaners running off into rivers and such, why not use biodegradable soaps and cleaners that are safe for the environment?

    to combat the issue of using coal/oil to power the carwash, why not install solar panels on the roof?

    we are so smart, yet, play dumb when it comes to treating our planet the way it needs to be treated. didn’t we come from the earth? how is it so hard for us to nurture it the same way it nurtured us? the “big” companies of the world need to get on the bandwagon because there is only so much we can do individually. large companies receive government grants all the time to expand their business, why not use them on renewable energy sources and make human pollution a thing of the past? yes, i understand it is impossible to get rid of ALL human pollution, hell even cows contribute a large portion of pollution to the air and they don’t have big sexy brains like we do.


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