RESOURCES
New Rules May Drain on Some Power Washers
San Diego to Crack Down on Wastewater Disposal
By Terry Rodgers, Union Tribune Staff Writer
January 3, 2004.
As appeared in The San Diego Union Tribune
The sun is about to set on the cowboy era of mobile power
washing, an industry once unfettered by government regulation
but now facing tough restrictions on disposal of wastewater.
The city of San Diego began enforcing more stringent regulations
Thursday that require pressure wash operators to recapture
their wash water.
The regulations are part of an unprecedented local effort
initiated three years ago to reduce urban runoff, random sources
of water that carry pollutants to waterways and the ocean.
Stricter regulations combined with tougher enforcement,
Marvin Winters said, should help weed out irresponsible operators
who habitually allow their wastewater to flow into storm drains,
which flow directly into streams, rivers and the sea. Even
moderately soapy water causes a range of negative effects
on fish and wildlife.
The region's urban runoff regulations are contained in a
58-page permit issued in February 2001 by the San Diego Regional
Water Quality Control Board. But the complicated rules can
be boiled down to this: With few exceptions, nothing but rain
should enter storm drains.
The rules on runoff apply to all 18 cities in the county,
the San Diego Unified Port District and most of the county
west of the mountains in the Cleveland National Forest.
Stacy Gaczkowski of the regional board said her agency allows
each jurisdiction to conduct pollution prevention programs
in whatever manner it wishes. The state intervenes only if
there is a complaint or obvious deficiency.
Poway and Chula Vista, for instance, do pollution and code
enforcement on weekends, but San Diego does not.
Until this year, the city of San Diego allowed dirty water
from the cleaning of sidewalks and other public spaces to
drain down the gutter as long as a filtration pad was placed
over the storm drain inlet.
"We were doing what we thought was both reasonable and
protective of the environment," Henry said of the policy
that was overturned. "The staff of the regional water
quality board had a different opinion."
Allowing the city flexibility in its enforcement is more
practical in the current era of austere government budgets,
she argued.
State regulators agreed to a six-month moratorium on enforcement
so the city could sponsor a series of workshops to educate
power washers on the tighter regulations and allow equipment
to be upgraded. The moratorium ended Thursday.
Under the new rules, power washers must capture their dirty
wash water before it reaches the gutter. Filtered wash water
free of oil, solvents or hazardous chemicals can be properly
disposed of in the sanitary sewer system or, in many cases,
simply poured over a grassy landscaped area.
Power washers who ignore the rules can be fined $100 for the
first offense and up to $250 for a second violation.
Fines are higher if the discharge involves a detergent,
de-greaser or other chemical. Jack In The Box, for instance,
was fined $7,811 in 2002 for washing a de-greaser into the
storm drain at one of its fast-food outlets.
San Diego attorney Wayne Rosenbaum, a national expert in
storm water regulation, said the efforts here to reduce urban
runoff pollution are considered to be among the most innovative
and strict in the state. "Slowly but surely we have seen
the San Diego municipal storm water permit become the model
for other regions in California as they adopt their own permits,"
he said.
Rosenbaum said he anticipates the focus on controlling polluted
wash water will spur innovation. "Over the next year
we'll get smarter about how to do it in the most economical
way," he said.
Will Berry of the nonprofit Clean and Safe Program, which
power washes sidewalks in downtown San Diego for business
improvement districts, said the stricter rules on wash water
disposal will require more work and take more time.
"It's not for us to debate it," he said. "It's
up to us to fulfill the expectations. It's something we can
live with, for sure."
But the power washing industry's day of reckoning could be
traumatic for those who flourished during its anything-goes
era, he said.
"They're asking an industry that has had little regulation
to suddenly be perfectionists at wash water control,"
he said. "There will be broken hearts as well as pocketbooks."
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