If you’ve attended any of our auto detailer training programs, you know there’s a respectable amount of homework involved in successfully running your own auto detailing business. And one area where you don’t want to scrimp on the research is in knowing the local Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for your neck of the woods.
Specifically, we’re talking about the Clean Water Act, a 35-year-old amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act that sets the rules for discharging pollutants into the waters within and surrounding the United States. In other words, this heavily enforced law prohibits businesses — including auto detail businesses — from dumping dirty and polluted water into sewers, drains and culverts that may lead to pristine creeks, streams, lakes and a couple of oceans.
Many new hotshot detailers who hit the deck running without first doing their homework on federal environmental laws find themselves at the other end of some fairly hefty fines. We’re not talking about a slap on the wrist here. And these fines are far from resembling your typical parking ticket. When the feds get their dander up over dirty water, they’re likely to impose fines of thousands of dollars, and they’ve even put some mobile detailers out of business!
So it would behoove you to check out your local EPA laws before you even think about turning the spigot on that hose. You don’t want to be known as that car detailer who bought all kinds of auto detailing equipment but neglected to ensure you have the gear necessary to keep water from entering the ecosystem. Here at Detail King, we’ve come up with a wide variety of eco-friendly mobile car wash equipment — including auto detailing mats and auto detailing water systems and tire and wheel containment berms — that can help you comply with the laws and still perform your detailing service with little inconvenience in time, labor or expense.
Specifically, we’ve got water mats that collect runoff, thus keeping the excess from the gutters and drainage pipes. We offer low-pressure washer systems that prevent water from spraying or splashing off the car and onto the pavement. And we’ve got water reclamation systems with powerful vacuum motors that suck up excess water.
All of these systems — our water containment mat, Vacu Berm, Big Dog Water Reclamation System and our Mr. Green Waste Water Tank System — are designed to be EPA compliant, which is especially important if your detailing business is near large bodies of water.
The added bonus to complying with the federal laws, of course, is the satisfaction of knowing that you’re doing your part to keep our waters clean of contamination and runoff. And you’ll be surprised at how many of your customers applaud your efforts, too!
For more information about local EPA laws and regulations that may have an impact on your auto detailing business, visit EPA Laws & Regulations.
