Liquid Assets : Carwashes Reap a Bounty From Drought, Medfly

The twin scourges of life in Southern California this summer--the worsening drought and continued malathion spraying--are proving to be a bounty for at least one sector of the economy: carwashes.

Sticky malathion sprayed from the skies over much of Southern California to combat the Mediterranean fruit fly has driven business up at carwashes by an estimated 20% to 40% as drivers wash their cars after each spraying, carwash operators report.

And as California communities consider water rationing and other curbs on household consumption in the fourth year of drought, more residents are expected to turn to the local carwash as they try to cut water use at home.

Carwashes also have received a boost from Metropolitan Water District officials, who through their literature are encouraging car owners to go to a carwash rather than washing cars on their own.

Water officials say that carwashes, despite their conspicuous use of water, actually consume a small fraction of water per wash of what the average motorist would use with a hose and bucket in the driveway.

“We are not the problem, we are part of the solution,” said Roger Woodyard, president-elect of the California Car Wash Assn. But carwashes “have the misfortune of being very visible” users of water, which leads to some misconceptions, he said.

So carwash operators are taking the offensive, hoping to capitalize on their efficient use of water to lure patrons and stave off any possible restrictions on access to water supplies during the drought.

Sam Kennedy, owner of a Placentia carwash, posts his water bills for customers to see. One recent bill showed Kennedy used 217,000 gallons of water in a month. “But I washed 14,000 cars,” consuming about 15 1/2 gallons of water for each car, Kennedy said.

Gary Wimmer, who operates a dozen carwashes in the Southland, has a series of posters and banners in his Eagle Rock area carwash that proclaim, “Because we care, we recycle up to 85% of our water.”

Industry officials estimate that there are about 1,000 to 1,500 carwashes in Los Angeles County, each handling 12,000 to 18,000 cars a month. That means an estimated 18 million cars will be washed in Los Angeles County in each of the coming hot summer months when residents are being asked to cut water consumption by 10%. Statewide there are an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 carwashes, about 10% of all carwashes in the nation.

Not all carwash owners are convinced that they are about to reap a windfall. But the numbers seem to support those operators who see a substantial increase in business around the corner.

There are more than 24 million registered vehicles in the state, and “even in a drought, people will still wash their cars,” said Wimmer. “People like clean cars.”

Especially people like Pat Sukove, a chiropractic assistant from North Hollywood, who was having her red Acura Integra cleaned at the Panorama Car Wash last week. “I bring it in every week, sometimes twice a week. I can’t afford not to take care of it. I waited a long time for this car, it’s my pride and joy,” she said.

The enthusiasm Californians have historically displayed for their vehicles will make it tough to break habits like Sukove’s, said Mark Dymally, a senior water district analyst who works with water-sensitive industries.

The giant MWD has called on Southern Californians to cut water use this summer by 10%, and has encouraged 300 communities to adopt water-conservation laws, including encouraging residents to use carwashes.

“A lot of it is symbolic,” Dymally said about the effort to steer motorists to carwashes. “But we shouldn’t minimize the symbolism. We already know that water use is inelastic. By that I mean if we raise your water rates by 25%, you won’t cut use by 25%. So the important thing is behavior modification.”

If Californians can’t be persuaded to drive dirty cars, they at least can be directed to the most efficient means of cleaning them, Dymally said.

“Since the drought of 1977, these guys have improved their efficiency immensely,” Dymally said about carwash operators.

In the past 10 to 15 years most of the state’s carwashes have installed high-pressure, low-flow water jets to reduce the total amount of water used, and have adopted recycling systems to capture and reuse the water.

Operators say they turned to recycling as a simple matter of economics. “As businessmen, carwash folks feel very strongly about water because it is the lifeblood of their industry,” said Sam Olivito, executive director of the California Carwash Assn., an industry trade group.

Recycling allows operators to reuse relatively low-cost water. But more significantly, it holds down commercial sewer charges that continue to soar in Southern California. A $50,000 to $70,000 recycling system can pay for itself in a few years through lower operating costs, said Wimmer and other operators.

Environmentalists and water experts say the entire community benefits when water is conserved and harmful pollutants washed from cars are captured in the recycling systems rather than being dumped down the storm drains and into streams, rivers, and ultimately the ocean.

Dorothy Green, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power commissioner who also is president of the environmental group Heal the Bay, expressed concern about car owners hosing malathion off their vehicles and into the gutter. “Each car (has) a minor amount,” she said. “But when you multiply it by all the cars in Los Angeles, boy!”

The issues of drought and malathion spraying are becoming entwined.

Last week, City Councilman Joel Wachs called for a special exemption in the city’s water conservation law to allow residents whose homes are sprayed with malathion to wash the pesticide off their homes, cars and property.

Carwash operators are keeping a close eye on that Los Angeles legislation and other proposed drought laws statewide. Since the last drought, industry officials made an effort to educate water officials and legislators about their business practices. “After the 1977 drought, the fear was that (our water use) was very visible, and there was a perception that we weren’t saving water,” said Olivito.

Dymally, of the MWD, said surveys show that carwashes had the second-highest negative rating among Californians who were asked to rank perceived water wasters. Carwashes were second only to golf course operators in the surveys, he said.

But as a result of their recycling efforts, most carwash operators have cut water use to about 14 to 20 gallons per car, several times below what they were using before recycling.

The average car owner with time on his hands and a dirty car in the driveway may use upwards of 50 gallons, even if he’s careful and uses a bucket and hose with a shut-off valve. Those who aren’t careful and leave the hose running, can use more than 150 gallons on a simple car wash, according to figures compiled by the water district.

Some carwash operators claim to have reduced usage to just seven gallons. Wimmer says that after a year of experimenting, he has recently perfected a water reclamation system that reuses 100% of the water, except for about five gallons per car that is lost to evaporation.

Some skeptics, including the MWD’s Dymally, question if that is possible.

But Wimmer’s carwash in the unincorporated area of San Bernardino County near Upland does not even have a sewer connection. Like most recycling systems, Wimmer’s unit captures the water and ships it through a series of tanks in which the particles and pollutants are sifted out. The sludge is then vacuumed out every month or so and generally carted to a toxic waste dump.

In Wimmer’s new system, the water is also pressed through charcoal filters at night to remove virtually all other unwanted material.

Wimmer said one of his biggest challenges was achieving a consistently clear color.

“We couldn’t get the colors out. Sometimes it came out green,” he said. “It didn’t hurt the car, but it was a psychological problem. Customers thought we were washing their cars with dirty water . . . and they complained.”

Despite the concern that customers will object to having their cars washed with “reused” water, hundreds of carwash operators said in a recent series of meetings that they plan to advertise their recycling efforts this summer, said Olivito of the carwash organization.

And many consumers are catching on.

“Not a day goes by that someone says to me, ‘This is recycled, isn’t it?’ ” said John Belgiorno, owner of the Panorama Car Wash.

Just how much additional business operators will get is unclear, though most agree that some increased level of business is inevitable.

Wimmer said business could increase 15%. Belgiorno said the increase will be commensurate with the amount of water people are being asked to conserve, so he pegs the anticipated boost in business at 10%.

The incentive is large. The 100 to 150 gallons that a driver uses to wash his own car is equal to the average total daily use for an individual in Southern California, according to MWD figures. The average household of three uses an estimated 300 to 400 gallons of water a day.

Cutting out a weekly at-home car wash could save several days’ worth of water and go a long way toward helping residents make the 10% cut in water use that may be required under pending legislation in Los Angeles.

But Ray Shouhed, owner of the Valley Car Wash, said he is not convinced that there will be much of an increase in business. Car washing is the first thing people cut out of a tight household budget, he said. The basic charge for a car wash in Southern California generally ranges from $3.50 to $6.50.

Dymally also said he did not expect significant growth in the near term, but predicted “an increasingly healthy growth rate over the long term as the public conscience is raised.”