California Car Wash Fundraisers and Environmental Law

Many nonprofit groups are upset that they are allowed to hold car wash fundraisers in some California cities. It’s not that government officials are against their groups raising money, it’s that they’re worried about where the dirty, soapy water ends up. It’s a problem and it might be a good thing if he understood some of the history behind the rules instead of getting mad about it.

HISTORY

Well, it all started many years ago when Congress passed the Federal Clean Water Act in 1972 during the Nixon Administration. This was in response to major pollution problems related to the pollution of the nation’s waterways by factories, open pit mining, and sewage treatment plants or the lack thereof. It was actually a big problem. It was an ecosystem disaster that caused disease and death to wildlife and some people. When it was discovered how serious the problem really was, the federal government authorized states to deal with problems within their state. States enacted state laws to help fix the problem. Meanwhile, the federal government tightened the standards forcing states to either toughen their standards or break them. With the threat of withholding federal funds for the states, the states continued to make more and more laws. Obviously the industry was not happy and even government agencies were unable to comply with the laws they made. Therefore, target dates were enacted to allow time for everyone to comply. Environmental consulting firms sprang up overnight along with a whole new industry of manufacturing environmental equipment and products, many of which were not even compliant themselves. Of course, all good things take time, and cleaning our water is obviously a good thing.

The State of California divided the state into nine different regions realizing that each region had different pollution problems based on the types of industry, demographics, and population of the areas. These regions were called ‘Regional Water Quality Control Districts’ (RWQCDs). All of these were controlled by the State Board which was defined by the Federal Clean Water Act as the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). Once the problem was broken down into smaller parts, things started to get better.

The SWRCB was formed in California and is commonly called ‘The State Board’. The State Board regulates the Control of Water Quality, which is any activity or factor that may affect the quality of state waters and includes the prevention and correction of water pollution and nuisances. This sounds very broad and the State Board has a lot of power. Fortunately, with the combined efforts of industry, government, and the public, they now understand the issues well enough to make smart decisions and fully understand that their organization needs to make money. Therefore, instead of preventing and banning the activities, everyone is working on solutions and procedures to allow responsible downloading creating a win-win situation.

Recently, the State Water Quality Control Boards asked counties to submit their approval and receive permits to discharge the same water they have been discharging for years. These permissions were called NPDES permissions. This means the National System for the Elimination of Polluting Discharges. Most counties assigned an existing department to work on this permit. Most likely it is the county Flood Control Department. Unfortunately, this part of the county deals with permits for land development, bridges, infrastructure, etc. Until now, they knew very little about the contamination. Some counties turned this responsibility over to the Department of Environmental Health Services, who in turn worked with the Department of Flood Control that controls storm drains. NPDES permits are state approved for local county urban runoff discharges. Every city in every county through municipal codes is supposed to pass ordinances and come up with a plan to control their local runoff/pollution. The county remains accountable to the state and the states to the federal government. The NPDES requirements are a consequence of the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, although they are enforced, permitted and regulated locally by cities, counties and states.

The actual law used to enforce these statutes can be found at 13.260 – 13.265 of the California Water Code. At one point he actually says:

“No person or persons may discharge water into any waterway without permission or a permit from a regional state water quality control board.”

This sounds pretty absolute, doesn’t it? It is against the law for you to take a glass of water from your sink, walk over to a storm drain, and pour the water down the drain. Obviously, this in itself would not harm the environment, but by granting absolute power, the Regional Water Quality Control Boards can analyze everything on a case-by-case basis. So get serious about your water after washing those cars.

RAINWATER DISCHARGE

City, county and state governments know that the car wash has always been a favorite fundraiser for sports teams, scouting troops, schools and other non-profit groups. Due to low capital investment costs, because laundering fundraisers can generate significant amounts of profit. For the last ten years, government agencies, especially in California, have been working with industry to find solutions to clean up our water. Today, the waterways of the United States are significantly cleaner than in the past, even though many regions are more densely populated. It has been working very well. Now we go one step further. No contamination from any source, even mobile dog groomers. In just the last few years, government agencies have decided that the adverse environmental impact is too great to allow car wash fundraising. Along with strong lobbying from fixed-site car wash owners, some cities and counties have banned these fundraisers unless certain procedures are followed to ensure wash water does not enter storm drains, ditches, or pathways. fluvial.

Their reasoning is as follows: Dirty water containing soaps and detergents, exhaust residue, gasoline, and motor oils wash out of cars and flow into nearby storm drains. Unlike the water we use in our homes and businesses that goes down the drain and is treated in sewage treatment plants, the water that goes to storm drains flows directly into rivers, bays, oceans, and lakes without any treatment. . Obviously, a car wash fundraiser alone will create little to no adverse environmental impact. But government agencies know that collectively, car wash fundraisers contribute to significant pollution.

They also realize that biodegradable soaps don’t lessen the impact. This is because biodegradable just means that the soap will degrade over time. So does plutonium, it just takes longer. Soaps and car wash products are still toxic to aquatic life, even if they are biodegradable. Think about this a bit. If you really want the city to let you do a car wash as a fundraiser, you’re going to have to figure out how to keep dirty, soapy water out of the storm drain.

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