Pressure Washing During a Drought
Pressure washing during a drought is tricky. It can be done both efficiently and in an environmentally supportive way. There’s just no beating it for cleaning surfaces, sidewalks, parking lots, buildings and even cars. It remains the best way for cleaning professionals to clean buildings and other outdoor structures. What happens when a drought is in effect, but you have to get that dirt off your building? How can you make it work?
Power to the People
Power washing is crucial not only for aesthetic reasons. Oil and grease, dirt, dust, pollen, mold, and mildew can hurt homes, buildings and facilities. It’s bad to let grime and ooze sit too long. When all of this grime stands over your building during a drought, you can be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
During drought conditions, look for a local service that stocks pressure washing equipment with wash water recycling systems. Be sure to ask specifically if they follow the EPA guidelines, which will greatly reduce the use of freshwater, as well as your possible guilt.
With wash water recycling systems, you will be able to reclaim water that is utilized. Instead of simply wasting water by putting it out onto the building, you can make sure the water is recycled and reused. This conserves the water within the ecosystem and gets your building looking good as new.
Clean Up Your Act
The Clean Water Act of 1972, along with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), changed the pressure washing industry forever. According to law, only rainwater can enter U.S. waterways. While this may seem to make sense, it also forces you to plan. This means only storm water can go into the storm drain system, which can be bad if you are using chemicals to power wash a curb or sidewalk. If any chemicals get into the drain, it goes into the drinking supply, which affects everyone. Any pressure washing chemicals must be absorbed into the soil or gathered up after usage, then filtered for reuse.
To help make these processes a bit easier, Best Management Practices (BMPs) were put into place along with Clean Water Act. BMPs help detail the best way to protect the water supply and promote the conservation of soil. Using BMPs can reduce pollution runoff into ponds, creeks, wetlands, swamps, and more.
The Future of Water
The use of wash water systems will soon become standard in our country and others, as well. The amount of water needed will be greatly reduced with these new methods. Also, general resources needed for wastewater disposal will diminish. The systems to reduce all these resources across the board are available, but at a high financial cost. Over time, savings from using water recycling systems would pay for themselves. They can offset the price of waste disposal and transportation. It would also save the consumer from EPA and a local water authority agency fines. The ultimate goal is to increase a drought resiliency effort and raise awareness by boosting the reliability of the local water supply. Future government acts and reforms should be made to help prepare for droughts like any other natural disaster.
To rent a water recovery pressure washer from WET-INC., contact us for more information from one of our knowledgeable sales team members.