City Requires Mobile Detailers to Capture Run Off! - Page 2

Dsoto87 · 04-09-09, 09:49

Superbee, that reminds me of a story I heard about solar panels. The amount of energy needed, and waste produced to make solar panels won't be regained by using them for 100s of years.

Its a good investment I guess for the future though.

dave40co · 04-09-09, 09:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dsoto87

Superbee, that reminds me of a story I heard about solar panels. The amount of energy needed, and waste produced to make solar panels won't be regained by using them for 100s of years.

Its a good investment I guess for the future though.

It's the same with the curbside recycling programs. They waste more energy picking up, sorting, cleaning and recycling than what is gained in dollars. When will these bubble heads learn?

Jakerooni · 04-09-09, 10:31

probably one of the most wasteful and useless things I've ever heard our tax dollars being wasted on. Like stated the "Run off" of doing a detail is no more "toxic" to the enviorment than a spring rain. There are much worse offenders to the enviorment that obviously are not even being looked at. This is a dumb thing to push. What happens when it rains of freshly fertilized lawns? Or mosiqutto (sp) pesitcides are put down? What about the runoff on highways that see a million cars a day? I'm sure the buildup on those are vastly greater than a simple wash job in a driveway somewhere. Complete and total waste of time. And the government can know I said so

Relaited · 04-09-09, 10:32

It is not about the biodegradible soap ... it is about the contaminants removed from the vehicle. Woudl you drink it? Do you think the fish can decide what is bio and what is hazardous?

Intersting to see those complain about other industries. Tht is why the Regulators are doing what they are doing.

-jim

Picus · 04-09-09, 10:41

I think what we're saying is that the regulation can sometimes be worse than what is being regulated. For example, as SuperBee mentioned, how much of a carbon footprint do these water reclamation systems have? For someone washing ~100 cars a year outside, I am going to guess that it's a net loss to the environment, and a net loss to the business owner.

And how far do we go? This weekend I pressure washed the front my my house. I wouldn't drink the run-off from that either - will I need a water reclamation system around my house soon?

fergnation · 04-09-09, 11:00

Regulators have to do something to justify their salary which is usually paid for by the taxpayers. Funny how that works, meanwhile the working people get hurt by losing their jobs and paying higher taxes because a small business can't keep up with these regulations. How many detailers will have to stop and lose their income due to tree hugging hippies with nothing better to do than screw up their own state and then wonder why our states that are doing fine don't want to be like them. Then after their State goes down the crapper, they move to a different State and vote the same damn way. Friggen idiots!!

shine · 04-09-09, 11:11

Follow the money...

SuperBee364 · 04-09-09, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Relaited

It is not about the biodegradible soap ... it is about the contaminants removed from the vehicle. Woudl you drink it? Do you think the fish can decide what is bio and what is hazardous?

Intersting to see those complain about other industries. Tht is why the Regulators are doing what they are doing.

-jim

No, but i wouldn't suck on the exhaust pipe of the diesel truck spewing crap into the air as it picks up my reclaimed water, either.

brwill2005 · 04-09-09, 12:21

Too bad the detail industry does not have expensive lobbyists in Washington. If we, did this would not even be an issue.

SCoach · 04-09-09, 12:41

Having formerly worked for Florida's Dept. of Env. Protection (in water and legal) and having a GF that currently works for Water in a section responsible for testing stormwater runoff, I asked her some hard questions last night.

The issue to me with these ordinances is not so much that they seek to catch potentially harmful runoff. Frankly, I don't have a problem with the idea. It's going to be brutal for the mobile guys though. The REAL devil is in what to do with the run-off once you have it?

Industrial wastewater is regulated quite strictly here in Florida, and fines from those out of compliance bring in a LOT of money to cover budgetary shortfalls in the agency. But, large industrial installations have treatment options that the mobile detailer simply doesn't. It's not like you can catch your water, filter it, and present the sludge to a facility for disposal. Any such facility would have to be permitted to perform that function, and at currently it simply doesn't exist.

Honestly, I think the proper way to deal with the issue, is for it to be handled like home mechanics changing oil in the driveway. The oil is captured, delivered to the local commercial oil changing place or Autozone/PepBoys/ect. for disposal. They are equipped to handle that load, and permitted to do so. Once the mechanism is in place to handle it, the devil becomes the mechanism for how to capture it and filter it. Industrial installations have very sophisticated gear to do this. Separating oil, grease, and other contaminants from the water in a mobile environment isn't going to be an easy nut to crack. At least not in a cost effective way.

These types of mandates will either drive out mobile businesses completely, or only make them available to people with businesses strong enough to absorb the added expense of putting a capture system in place.

Sticky problem to be sure.

weekendwarrior · 04-09-09, 03:24

What about the pollutants from the plants that manufacture these water reclaimation systems? What about the emissions from the trucks that transport them out of the factory once completed? What about the emissions from the trucks that deliver raw materials to the factory to make these reclaimation systems? The sky is falling!!!

SuperBee364 · 04-09-09, 04:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by weekendwarrior

What about the pollutants from the plants that manufacture these water reclaimation systems? What about the emissions from the trucks that transport them out of the factory once completed? What about the emissions from the trucks that deliver raw materials to the factory to make these reclaimation systems? The sky is falling!!!

Exactly. And knee-jerk, feel-good laws that end up hurting the environment more than the process they are regulating continues to run rampant.

I wish I could remember the name of the magazine, but I recently read a very well done article by a guy that has a Phd in Physics. He calculated the carbon footprint from ore to disposal of a Kenworth semi and a Prius. Being as how I'm bringing this up, you can guess the result. Yup, the Prius (mostly due to the manufacturing and recycling of the batteries over it's life) was more damaging to the environment from cradle to grave than a semi. But all the "Greenies" in their blissful ignorance keep snappin' them up, then give me a glare as I fill up my Hemi at the gas station. I just shake my head, knowing that I'm "greener" than them.

I'd be willing to place money on the same thing happening with this water reclamation crap. All the fossil fuels being wasted to pump and transport... boggles the mind, really.