SALINA, Utah — A FOX 13 News viewer reached out with a question many people may have during a hot, dry stretch in Utah: Why are car washes still operating during drought restrictions?
We took that question to water experts and a central Utah car wash to find out whether using a commercial car wash is better or worse than washing a vehicle at home.
The answer may surprise some people.
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Experts say newer commercial car washes can often use water more efficiently than washing a car in a driveway, especially when they have systems designed to recycle and reclaim water.
At SuperClean Auto & RV Wash in Salina, manager Trevor Carlisle said the car wash was built four years ago with technology meant to reduce water waste.
“Our system’s all pressurized, from the water to the chemicals,” Carlisle said.
He said the system reuses water during different parts of the wash process, including for spot-free rinsing and cleaning the undercarriage of vehicles.
“With our system, with our recycling system, it uses that water for the spot-free at the end of the wash clean to make sure you don’t have those hard water spots,” Carlisle said. “And whatever water’s not clean in that spot-free, it helps to wash the undercarriage of the cars.”
Cynthia Bee with Utah Water Ways said commercial car washes can be one of the more efficient options, depending on the equipment being used.
“It’s like any other tools that we have,” Bee said. “They’re using these new tools in the newer car washes that are recycling water, that are using that more efficiently.”
Bee said washing a vehicle at home can often use more water than going through a commercial car wash. However, she said the overall impact depends on how often someone washes their vehicle.
“So it’s more efficient to use a car wash than wash at home,” Bee said. “But if you increase your frequency with that, that impact decreases.”
Bee said water use is not always as simple as it appears, and hard to gauge another's use.
“The challenge is that it’s often more complex than you realize,” Bee said. “The way it appears on the surface and what’s actually going on can actually be pretty different.”
Jennifer Bastian, another manager at SuperClean, said the drought is something people in central Utah are thinking about constantly.
“We understand how it’s going to be a tough year,” Bastian said. “We’re praying for rain like everybody else, and we’re just trying to do our part in making it the least amount of water usage as possible when you need to get your car clean.”
“We just try the very best we can do to keep all of our systems running so that we use less water, we can reclaim more water, and that we also use the right chemicals so we can get the job done quicker,” she added.
Bee said the bigger message is that everyone has a role to play when it comes to conservation.
“Everyone that uses water is obligated to be an efficient user,” Bee said. “But what that looks like and how they accomplish it might be a little bit different based on the way the water’s being used.”
She said Utahns looking for ways to conserve water at home can find resources through Slow the Flow at slowtheflow.org, where there are ways you can save money and water with some simple adjustments in your at-home practices.
“We’re all water users,” Bee said. “Every single one of us is a consumer of water, and we’re all responsible to do that in the best way we can.”
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