this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023

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[DISCUSS] Washing cars at home (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3972223

I come from a generally dry country and the concepts of drought & conserving the water are not new to me.

One of the things that have stunned/upset me ever since I set foot in Canada (both east & west coasts) is watching people washing their cars using a hose and tap water:

For starters, tap water is not cheap. Moreover, one definitely doesn't need sanitised water to wash their car.

But more importantly, washing cars using a hose at home is very inefficient compared to taking it to an automatic car wash: something which is programmed to make every second of operation and every litre of water count (that's how they make a margin after all.)

TBH I'm not sure about the real impact this has on our water reserves & if there have been any studies on similar water-inefficiencies but I have yet to watch/read/hear a advertisement, newspaper column or radio talk on this topic: these dry seasons take extra measures as, IMHO, they're going to stay w/ us for the foreseeable future.

Am I being too sensitive about water shortage b/c of my background? What are your thoughts?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don’t think it’s a huge deal as much as people watering their lawns.

I wash my car when it gets quite dirty. Maybe once or twice a month. Spray water to wet it down, use a bucket with a wash mitt and soapy water to actually wash it, then rinse it off.

The water isn’t running continually. Maybe 5-10 min tops through a sprayer which also reduces the flow besides spreading the stream.

If washing a car like that I see no issue.

Contrast that with someone who waters their lawn a few times a week for an hour or so.

I’m sure that water metering will come here and it will reduce usage as people begin to pay for something which is generally free and unlimited right now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've heard of unmetered water but thought it was pretty much a thing of the past. The village where I worked has been metered since the water was put in in 1962. I was part of the 3rd meter replacement and upgrade they went through and we installed radio meters that can be read with a from the street while doing street sweeping or snow clearing. Current population is about 280, but I don't think they ever had more than 500.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I’ve lived in 6 cities and two rural municipalities and never had metered water … resevoir water and well water that is relatively inexpensive. But even with that, most people’s car washing has been pretty conservative of water.

The real issue is that the soap is just being rinsed down the storm drains into fish habitat.

For that reason, I always take my car to a car wash where they have responsible disposal of the detergents.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

TIL. The village in question is in southern Saskatchewan and I never met anyone at the water treatment conferences that was running an unmetered system. That I know of, anyway. I just thought metering was standard procedure.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Lived in BC all my life and never had metered water here anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In BC. Never heard of anyone having metered water (yet).

For 7 months of the year we have more water than we know what to do with.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you rural…?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Lower mainland BC

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am also very sensitive about water and I used get angry even when seeing people on television washing their teeth while letting the water running. Right now I also get angry watching people taking a bath, taking a shower and letting the water running.

People are used to always have water and it is cheap so they don't care. I even saw someone on Reddit saying that you don't need to turn off water in the shower when you soap because it costs almost nothing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I even saw someone on Reddit saying that you don't need to turn off water in the shower when you soap because it costs almost nothing.

Are out saying that you turn the water on and off multiple times during your shower? Like when you wash your hair, you turn the water off to shampoo then turn it back on to rinse?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, what…? My shower uses ~2.5 gallons per minute, and at a cost of $2.55/thousand gallons where I live, that’s a total of ~$0.003 (a third of a cent) to turn it off for 30 seconds while I soap

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I can't tell if this is a genuine question or sarcasm 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s a genuine question. I live in Canada and before I visited abroad (SE Asia) I had never seen those styles of shower water heaters, nor did it ever cross my mind to turn off the water while soaping up.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I see now 👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes I do that and in my case I use very little for showers, around 6l/shower max. It is not about the cost but there are some cities around where they don't have tap water this summer. There weren't any real actions that were taken to avoid that situation.