SHOULD WE WASH OUR CARS IN OUR DRIVEWAYS?

 

SHOULD WE WASH OUR CARS IN OUR DRIVEWAYS?    

Washing your car in the driveway seems like a fairly acceptable and benign act. 

 All kinds of people will wash their cars in their driveway thinking that it’s less costly than going to a commercial car wash.  

Before washing your car in the driveway, please consider the following facts:

·       Everything you use to wash your car goes directly from the storm drains into lakes and rivers.

·       Cleaning products for cars may contain nonylphenol ethoxylates which strip away fishes’ protective mucous coating, causing them to absorb more chemicals and making them more susceptible to disease.

·        High concentrations of NPE’s can actually kill fish and kill the eggs of invertebrate species and the NPE’s can penetrate the oils birds need to maintain a dry layer of insulating feathers.

·       Detergents may contain phosphates which are responsible for algae bloom which has contributed to the disappearance of cold water fish such as trout from Lake Simcoe.

·       Rinsing engine and wheel wells can send engine oil and anti-freeze into our water supply, all it takes is one drop of engine oil to contaminate 25 litres of water making it undrinkable.

·       Washing your car in the driveway wastes a great deal of water that taxpayers have paid to be treated for drinking.

·       A garden hose pours out 60 litres of water per minute, so depending on how long you hosed down your car, you could be using up to 500 litres of water specifically treated to make it drinkable! In most municipalities the more water you use, the higher the cost of the water.   Remember, all this water has to be pumped to your house using energy paid by all taxpayers.  So when your neighbour washes his car in the driveway, we all pay for the water to be pumped to his house.  

·       If you take your car to a self-service facility known as wand washes only 50 litres of water is used per vehicle!

·       Automated car washes use 110 litres per vehicle.

·       Look for the CCA logo (Canadian Carwash Association) as they do not use NPE’s, reuse water, ship sediment to a licensed hauler, and ship grey water to a treatment plant.

·       By using a commercial car wash you will help keep water clean for everyone.

·       If you absolutely must wash your car, do it on the lawn and use eco-friendly soaps, the lawn can help filter potentially tainted water before it reaches the water table, and use a nozzle so it can be shut off easily.

·        We can’t afford to take water for granted. Without a healthy supply of drinkable water the quality of our lives will be greatly diminished and thousands of species of wildlife will disappear at an alarming rate.

 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What do you think? Can birds help combat the catastrophic impacts of climate chaos?

Image
  What do you think? Can birds help combat the catastrophic impacts of  climate chaos ? YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! Birds do an incredible job of  helping to create new forests by eating tons of tree seeds.  As they fly all over the forests the tree seeds in their poop is dropped on the forest  floor.  And, the poop helps to fertilize the tree seeds as they sprout into saplings. 92% of woody plants are grown from the seeds dropped by birds in their poop !  182 species are edible. 85 species are used for timber.  153 species are medicinal  plants. 156 species are ornamental.  A new study   published  in Forest Ecosystems   (20220 concluded large fruit-eating animals, including birds like toucans significantly help regenerate forests which are  giant traps for carbon, collectively, absorbing  as much as 30 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions , and store more than 1,600 gigatonnes of car...
Read more

DON'T TREAT MOTHER EARTH LIKE A GIGANTIC GARBAGE BIN

 DON'T  TREAT MOTHER EARTH LIKE A GIGANTIC GARBAGE BIN On Sunday, October 15, the Barrie Garden Club ventured out on a dark, dreary, and drizzly day to pick up litter, along Highway 26 close to Wilson Avenue. As I was picking up all kinds of litter such as license plates, chairs, discarded clothing, plastic bags, lots  of cigarette butts, and a myriad of discarded coffee containers, I began to reflect on all the problems triggered by litter. Here in Canada, we are very lucky to have an organized system where most municipalities and cities  make sure that there are regular pick-ups for your garbage, compost, and recyclables. So it boggles my mind why so many Canadians do not use the readily provided containers, but instead  treat Mother Earth like a gigantic garbage bin. I simply cannot understand when someone buys a cup of coffee, they then go for a long hike, they  manage to carry the cup full of coffee, but the minute it’s empty, they simply cannot manage...
Read more