Environmental Question

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JeffsPureBrilliance

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Hi all,

I've been around Autogeek off an on for a number of years mainly for research. I've been collecting data/info on doing detailing part-time as I have a passion for cars and really enjoy the work. I've read Renny's book (twice now) and it has fired me up more than I was prior. Has anyone dealt with the EPA or any environmental aspects of mobile detailing? I'm not sure if I'll need a permit for wastewater and if I need to do reclamation and how to handle the hazardous waste water. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks in advance!

Jeff H
Pure Brilliance Detailing
 
Never a promblem for me from the code people,however I was a vendor for Mercedes Benz and BMW and one of the big wigs were walking past me and told the service director I needed to contain the water as it was streaming down the parking lot.I bought a wash berm that connects to the wet vac.once they left for good I chucked it into the van.
 
I'm not sure what kind of permit you are talking about. The EPA Clean Water Act rules are national, and therefore apply everywhere, however the enforcement is delegated to state agencies so states and locales differ in their enforcement. Where are you located?

So there are several ways to approach this. You can wash on a mat or use a containment boom as GSKR suggests. In that case the water you collect would be discharged into a sanitary sewer (in comparison to the storm drain it would run into in the street), and there should be no permit required for that. You would need to check with your local sewer authority regarding pH and oil content of wastewater.

The other approach is to use a waterless or rinseless method so you essentially have no discharge.
 
Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info. I was thinking about mahjong something similar using a tarp and beach towels and just soak up the waste water. Those berms look pretty good though.
 
I'm in Ohio and the Ohio EPA requires a permit for putting waste water into the sanitary system depending on whether it is hazardous or not. I couldn't find any msds sheets on various washes I was looking at using. I want to do my homework before I get going.
 
You're getting a bit ahead of yourself. Car wash (soap) effluent is not hazardous waste. If you are degreasing engines there may be a ppm oil content you have to be below. Of course acid or iron-eating wheel cleaners may change the equation a bit.

It also depends how many gallons you are discharging, I mean if you collect 20 gallons of rinse water and pour it in the sink in your house, are you really going to get a permit for that?

I think your objective is not to be discharging hazardous waste, as you may have to test/document the effluent as part of your permit, which you really don't want to get into.

Some things to think about...acid wheel cleaners can be neutralized or diluted to bring them into the pH range...I'm not sure that the iron-eating wheel cleaners are hazardous because hey, it's hair perm, after all.
 
Yes thanks for keeping it in perspective. I tend to get ahead of myself and over think things but I lime to cover my bases. I appreciate the help!
 
I think you can do anything you want with the water now, there may be no more EPA...
 
I believe that any manufacturer of any product must identify if it as hazardous with both an icon and on the label.
 
Dandy98 said:
I believe that any manufacturer of any product must identify if it as hazardous with both an icon and on the label.
Click to expand...

You're mixing apples and oranges with RTK labelings vs. classification of waste vs. sewerability. I think drain cleaner is a pretty hazardous substance but by definition you can pour it down the drain.
 
Setec has it nailed. First determine if the cities you will work in have an MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) or combined sewer (this is becoming very rare). If MS4, then determine if the city has a individual NPDES permit or a general permit (this is a permit the city holds with the EPA); also determine if the city has a Stormwater Management Program (SWMP). The SWMP and NPDES permits will identify what can be discharged to storm sewer.

The sanitary authority for your area should have documents that identify when a permit is required for discharge to sanitary sewer.

In most cases, discharges from non-commercial car washing activities can be directed to turf areas to infiltrate. This may be a worthwhile discussion to have with the local regulatory authority.
 
Audios S6 said:
Setec has it nailed. First determine if the cities you will work in have an MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) or combined sewer (this is becoming very rare). If MS4, then determine if the city has a individual NPDES permit or a general permit (this is a permit the city holds with the EPA); also determine if the city has a Stormwater Management Program (SWMP). The SWMP and NPDES permits will identify what can be discharged to storm sewer.

The sanitary authority for your area should have documents that identify when a permit is required for discharge to sanitary sewer.

In most cases, discharges from non-commercial car washing activities can be directed to turf areas to infiltrate. This may be a worthwhile discussion to have with the local regulatory authority.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! That put me onto a lot of (slightly confusing) research. I think I'm going to try and do no-rinse washes and steam cleaning to avoid causing any runoff. With time I'd like to get a good reclamation system that would allow the advantage of a power washer. At least that's my plan of attack as of now.
 
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