CONVENIENCE & CARWASH CANADA
WATER RECLAMATION AND REGULATION This article is a collaboration between Charles Borchard and Denise Wight, the VP of Operations and Director of Corporate Accounts for New Wave Industries PurClean/ PurWater respectively. Between us we have 50 years experience in the car wash business and 35 years in water treatment for car wash.
W
ater is the lifeblood of the planet, without it, life would cease to exist. That being said, one of the most glaring problems facing the world today is access to fresh water. Water is considered a ‘renewable’ resource, it makes it back into the hydrologic cycle so it can be used again and again; however, pressure on the resource is growing. Pollution of surface and groundwater further reduces the supply. The availability of and access to fresh water supplies has been highlighted as among the most critical natural resource issues facing the world. 31 countries are facing sever water stress, over a billion people have no access to clean water, by 2025 researchers are predicting water will be shipped around the globe like gas is today, through pipelines and tankers. In spite of all this, water use continues to increase. Between 1972 and 1996, Canada’s water usage increased by 90% while the population increased only 33%. Water consumption has tripled in the last 50 years. US water consumption has increased six-fold since the 1900’s, twice the rate of population growth. The problem is compounded when we take a look at the ageing infrastructure. The infrastructure supporting water utilities across globe are being stressed beyond their limits. It’s estimated that $335 billion is needed to fix the outdated systems in the US alone. The US’'s drinking water system is so troubled, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave it a grade of D, in its 2013 Report Card of America's Infrastructure., that is up from 2009’s D minus! EPA estimates that in the biggest municipalities over 30% of the water pipes are 40-80 years old, and, 10% of those are older than that! Our wastewater is a D as well, so not only do we have difficulty treating the fresh water that we have for human consumption, we also have a difficult time cleaning the water that we use to be released back into the environment. Environment Canada states that The Canadian Infrastructure Report Card 2012 suggests a possible need for as much as $80 billion to replace aging water, wastewater and storm water infrastructure that is already appraised as being in ‘fair’ to ‘very poor’ condition. It has been estimated that Canadian municipalities currently face some $31 billion to repair and maintain the existing capital stock, and an additional $56.6 billion for new infrastructure. According to the 2011 Municipal Water Pricing Report produced by Environment Canada, water and sewer rates have risen 25% on average since 2006 and will continue to climb. Not only are rates going up but
municipalities are switching over to volumetric charges vs. flat rate charges which means customers will be charged for every liter or gallon of water used and sent down the drain. What does this mean to carwash operators? Water and sewer bills will continue to skyrocket. The use of water reclamation can save an operator anywhere from $8,000 to over $20,000 a year in water and sewer costs.
I
f you ever built anything that required getting a permit from a government entity, you have been exposed to the multiplicity of sometimes contradictory and always confusing regulations. These regulations will control everything from how the exterior of your building will look, to how your restrooms will be IF YOU EVER BUILT configured, to how many ANYTHING THAT lights in your parking lot to how that light is REQUIRED GETTING capped to prevent “light A PERMIT FROM pollution” in the night A GOVERNMENT sky. Car washes are no ENTITY, YOU HAVE different. Since this article is about water BEEN EXPOSED TO regulations we will stick THE MULTIPLICITY to the swamp that is the OF SOMETIMES sticky morass of rules CONTRADICTORY AND concerning water and ALWAYS CONFUSING waste water. ack in the day when REGULATIONS municipalities and water and sewer districts were starting to get concerned about their ability to deliver water and process waste water for their customers, they developed a means to collect revenue to help offset needed improvements. These were called impact fees. These fees were calculated to charge the user that would have the most need for water and sewer services the most money. Often car washes were targeted. Water reclamation systems were developed to counter these fees. Water and sewer districts would often set aside most or sometimes all the impact fees based on the car wash customer having a water reclamation system, these system were often never used. Nowadays while there are still impact fees, the water and sewer authorities are also charging by the volume of water you take in and calculating from that your sewer discharge, these rates are sky-rocketing. So while any “reclaim
B
35