Drought Conditions Expand in Southwest

The summer of 2011 is certainly leaving a mark on the Southwest. The extreme heat and dry weather are creating drought conditions. Of course with the shortage of water many communities have moved to higher stage water conservation measures. Over the past several years SCWA has worked with many communities to help educate public officials on the water saving methods and operations of the professional car wash. According to SCWA Water Conservation Committee Chair, Mike Atkinson, “the work of SCWA in the last 5 years has paved the way for the public and city officials to better understand that car washes do not use the large amounts of water once thought. In fact, car washes are not even in the top 1000 water users in most communities”.

The SCWA Water Conservation Alliance is a partnership of car wash owners who are working in their community to help everyone understand the environmentally friendly operations of their car wash business.

If you would like SCWA to assist you in helping your community to better understand the car wash water conservation measures and make sure you are not unfairly impacted please contact the SCWA Headquarters 800-440-0644.

If you are interested in becoming an Alliance Partner please visit www.swcarwash.org and click on the Water Conservation Alliance icon or call SCWA.

The SCWA Water Conservation Alliance is a voluntary partnership between the SCWA professional car wash operators, community utilities, and state, county, and local governments to continue reducing water use in our communites thoughout the Southwest.

The SCWA Water Conservation Alliance will provide information and guidelines to car wash operators on the most efficient water use methods for car wash operations and recognize those who are achieving significant water conservation efforts. In addition, the Alliance will provide data to communities, government, and the general public on water conserving and environmentally
friendly efforts of the car wash industry.

The SCWA Water Conservation Alliance has created specific water saving criteria for car wash operators to implement and local communities to recognize that will produce benefits today and even more important save water for future generations.

Become a Water Conservation Partner To participate and be recognized as a “Water Conservation Partner” the following steps must be completed:

1. Be a member in good standing with SCWA.
2. Request and complete the SCWA Water Conservation Alliance Guidelines outlining the water conservation criteria.
3. Forward the completed and signed checklist to the SCWA Headquarters.
4. Agree to participate in the SCWA Charity Car
Wash Program.

Once the above steps are completed, the car wash will be recognized as follows:

1. Receive a small lobby sign to be displayed at the car wash recognizing you for outstanding efforts in conserving water in the community through the SCWA Water Conservation Alliance.
2. Additional metal signage (28”x48”) is available for outside display ($75 per sign).

The car wash name will be displayed on the homepage of the SCWA website highlighting all participating car washes bringing you additional awareness and recognition.

 

Dear Chuck:

I greatly appreciate all of your efforts on my behalf in dealing with water restrictions recently imposed on my car washes by the city of Copperas Cove. As you are aware, on Sunday, June 19 a pump station problem led to a temporary disruption of the water supply in Copperas Cove. The city immediately ordered all car washes in the city to close, while allowing all other types of businesses to remain open. In conversations I had with city officials on June 20 and 21 I was told that other businesses, such as laundromats, would also soon be closed. That step, however, was never taken. In my last conversation with the Copperas Cove city manager, Steven Alexander, he informed me that car washes would almost certainly be closed for at least four more days. That conversation was on Wednesday, June 22 at approximately 4:00 PM. His reasons were that car washes use a lot of water, they are not as essential to the public as other businesses, and most importantly, they can be easily shut down and serve as highly visible reminders to the public that there is a water problem. Immediately following that conversation I called your office and discussed the situation with you. You then called Mr. Alexander to discuss the situation with him. By 11:00 AM the next day the city had called me to inform me that I could reopen my car washes.