Hi all, River Lover John Fischer here with KLCC's Living Less Unsustainably. I don't mind having a dirty car. I ride my bike, and use the car as a tool - to get places, and move things - not as a fashion accessory. And since it's brown, the dirt doesn't show much anyway. "The car is blue John." OK, maybe it needs washing.
But if you are going to wash your car once in a while, or regularly, don't do it on the street where the water will drain into the storm sewers, and shortly after, into one of our local rivers. Instead, pull the car onto the grass so the soap and water will keep your lawn green, not turn the river green with algae.
There was a time when cars dripped oil, but automakers have solved that problem - and electric cars don't even have oil to leak, so groundwater pollution is not a big concern. If you're spraying off a driveway - bad idea, sweep it, or cleaning anything, it's always best practice to keep yard and street dirt on a vegetated surface, and out of the storm sewers- and rivers.
Commercial car washes use much less water, and do not pollute our rivers. A commercial car wash filters and re-uses the wash water, and then discharges it to the sanitary sewer where it is treated before going back to the river.
If you stop at a fundraising car wash, make sure it's not polluting a local waterway. It should be held on a grassy area, or better yet the group should use one of the free fish-friendly-carwash kits available in Eugene and Springfield. A simple diverter keeps water out of the storm sewers- and rivers, and a pump routes the suds to the sanitary sewer.
If your group is planning a car wash, contact happyrivers.org and they will walk you through the simple process.
If you stop by a group sponsored car wash that isn't fish-friendly, give them a couple of bucks, tell them about the free diversion kits, and then head home in your brown car.
I'm John Fischer with Living Less Unsustainably.
