I live in California and I’m trying to think of a creative solution to this problem. We are not allowed to dump our discharge water into the storm drains. I Know California sucks and I should move somewhere else but that’s not an option at this point. I know there are some of you out there who have been successful in this state so I’m asking what do you do about the run off. I’m thinking of some kind of dyking system or sandbags along with a sump pump. what a pain in the butt. Another snag in the road when all I want is to get to work.
I believe it’s illegal in all 50 states.
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Even for residential?
The saying is “only rain goes down the drain.”
but for house washes all of the waste water goes into the ground/landscaping which is not regulated, at least in my state.
You only really run into it in residential when you’re cleaning a driveway if you let all of the waste water runoff into the drain.
In that case a lot of times you can divert the wastewater off into the lawn or landscaping and be in compliance.
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Ok thanks. The last thing I need is to get slapped with a $10,000 fine
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It doesn’t seem to be a big topic of conversation on this forum so I assumed it wasn’t much of an issue
I pay a guy with a really long straw like that one to suck it up and spit it in a 55 gallon barrel.
I hear he can suck a marble through that straw
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That saying is actually not in the CWA. Robert Hinderliter coined that phrase in an attempt to sell more reclaim equipment.
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There was another guy years back preaching that garbage too. I dont remember his name though.
can you give me your thoughts on it? I’m pretty new here. I would obviously do my best to get the water into the lanscaping but some is always going to tricke into the storm drains
Probably best to stop typing. Some guys would love nothing better than to turn you in and their is one poster here that makes up stuff about people turning him in.
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I think that’s because it’s an inconvenient truth. It’s almost as if we don’t talk about then we can’t be held liable for it. 
It’s like anything else in this business. You are going to have to decide how you are going to proceed. There are guys in this industry who will call you illegitimate if you don’t have liability insurance all the while they are dumping toxic runoff into the lakes and rivers, totally ignoring the laws and the environment.
Personally, my policy is to “make an effort” in following the laws. I have my state and municipality permits and licenses for my business, pay my workers above the table, have the right insurances, make a serious effort to comply with OSHA, DOT, and the EPA laws. When it comes those last ones I just do the best I can so that in the event of a problem no one can say I wasn’t trying.
In residential house washing it’s not that big of an issue. I only run into it with driveways mostly and for that I lay booms across the drive at an angle and direct the runoff into the grass. If I have to capture it I just dam it up and use the sludge pump or an electric transfer pump to pump it into the landscape.
It’s not that difficult. As for this idea that anyone who talks about the CWA in public is a bad person because it might wake people up to the fact that pressure washing contractors are polluting the waterways, well, that’s a joke.
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Never said it was. It’s what I tell my employees so that they understand that we don’t dump chemicals out on the ground or wash waste water into a storm drain.
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The term used in the CWA is “U.S. waters”. The storm drains are technically US waters, since there is nothing filtering it and it goes straight into the waters.
Whether or not people in the industry are allegedly creating legislation or not so they can sell equipment is irrelevant.
Take that waste water and dump it into your well. Or maybe into your koi pond. Enough said.
@tnunez66 there is federal law, state law and town law. All are different in the way they enforce and interpret the Clean Water Act.
California is perhaps the strictest. Steel eagle makes a recapture unit, as do some others.
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Thanks for the brutal honesty. I guess I’m gonna have to get some straw booms and a sump pump to divert water. yay more $$$$! Has anyone here ever been fined 10k or rolled up on by fish and game?
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Absolutely 100% relevant. To ignore it or white wash it makes you as complicit as the pwna, uamcc, powerwash store and others that support them. There is no alleged. Hinderliter and the pwna have been caught, admitted to and are proud of shopping and writing BMPs for cities that are harmfull to contractors.
Your best bet is to contact your local water utilities company and find out. I am waiting on the answer from our local utility company. I want to wash these Amazon fleet vehicles but corporate said they weren’t allowed to do it on site. I wan to find out what the local regulations are so I can counter and give them the 100% accurate truth, and hope to win the contract. I asked the utility company what the discharge water had to be filtered down to to put in the “drain” and what chemicals were not allowed. Also, asked if it was filtered to a specific micron level could I discharge into landscaping. I’m hoping to hear something tomorrow so I can give a definitive answer for anyone in Nebraska at least.
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Everything we use is bipdrgradeable
