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Car wash- Is it illegal?

Is it illegal to wash your car in your driveway? Thank you for any help.

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Comment by Madison W. on September 1, 2012 at 9:48pm: I don't think so! I always see people washing their cars in the back alleys and in their driveways if they have one. A lot of people use the car wash on C Avenue or go down to Imperial Beach, city water is quite expensive here not to mention gas and electric!

Comment by Mayor Casey Tanaka on September 1, 2012 at 10:55pm: Technically, it is illegal to wash your car in a driveway or on a city street because the water and various accompanying chemicals would eventually wash into our storm drains and then out into the ocean. The legal way to wash your car is to drive it onto your lawn where the water and other soapy stuff would drain into your lawn/ground. If this is not feasible, then you are advised to take your car to a car wash where the water and chemicals are properly treated and run into the sewer system rather than the ocean.

Comment by Mayor Casey Tanaka on September 2, 2012 at 9:04pm: You're most welcome Cris!

Comment by Darcy Leasure on September 3, 2012 at 9:44am: good to know! thanks!

Comment by Donald Fink on September 3, 2012 at 9:51am: There is an easier way to wash your car while using very little water. Most cars needing washing simply because they have (mainly) dust and some dirt. Use a California Duster (a handheld fiber "mop" with paraffin, to remove most of the large dust and dirt. Then use a quart squirt bottle filled with tap water and spray an area of the car. Use a clean terry cloth or rag to clean the area and another to immediately dry the area you just cleaned. Repeat this procedure until the entire car is clean. One thing you'll notice is there are no water spots because you immediately dried the car. When you're finished you'll realized you used about half the quart bottle of water, you have no large puddles of water around the car, there are no hoses to take out or put away, and you will not be wet after washing the car.

To keep your car looking good and to help keep it clean, once it's clean give it a waxing with a quality car wax. It will make your future car washes even easier.

Comment by Peter L. Fagan on September 3, 2012 at 6:00pm: I am not sure the Mayor's response is "technically" correct. The last time I read the municipal code for Coronado, it didn't speak to washing cars. There was a code provision about allowing the waste water into the storm drain system. So, washing cars in your driveway or street doesn't seem to be illegal per se. I believe the Mayor says it is illegal "BECAUSE" the waste water goes into the storm drains. So, if your driveway doesn't drain to the street, or the waste water doesn't enter the storm drains, it doesn't seem illegal according to my last reading of the code. As many may know, there are quite a few areas where there are no storm drains, like 4th for example. So, I think it is more accurate to state that it is illegal to wash your cars "IF" the waste water goes into the storm drains, not "BECAUSE" it does.

Casey, please correct me if my interpretation of the code is incorrect, or perhaps the City Attorney could provide an opinion.

Comment by Mayor Casey Tanaka on September 3, 2012 at 10:41pm: If your street doesn't connect with a storm drain, that would be correct. Most, however, are connected to storm drains.

Comment by Madison W. on September 4, 2012 at 9:57am: I haven't seen any storm drains anywhere and when folks wash their cars in the alleys, the dirty water sits in puddles and eventually dries up. I wonder how many gallons of dirty soapy water actually run into the ocean compared to the millions of gallons of raw sewage that flowed into the ocean just last week?

Comment by Peter L. Fagan on September 4, 2012 at 1:23pm: Madison, That is a good point. I think many areas have no storm drains, so to categorically say it is illegal to wash cars in driveways or on the street is a bit of a stretch. As an aside, I notice that for years, homeowners pay a supplement to their property tax bill for storm drain improvement in Coronado. Not sure what has been improved, or even added when there are so many areas without storm drains.

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