The city of Santa Maria held true to its promise to provide education and outreach around the recently passed mobile car washing ordinance, hosting two bilingual Zoom workshops on April 28 and 29. Local mobile washers had an opportunity get any confusion cleared up around the ordinance, and city officials said they will continue to be available to answer questions in the months ahead.
The city offered two meeting times to accommodate different schedules: one from noon to 2 p.m. on April 28, and another from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on April 29. Neither meeting was recorded, Public Information Manager Mark van de Kamp said. Both workshops started with the same presentation in English and Spanish, outlining the key changes and regulations that mobile car washers must comply with, before opening up for questions.
Code Enforcement Supervisor Joy Castaing started the April 28 meeting by reminding listeners to only ask questions concerning how to be a permitted mobile washer.
“We’re all here to help get you permitted, and this workshop is not about any changes that will be made to the ordinance,” she said. “Over the next 90 days, we will be continuing to provide some outreach and will continue to help answer any questions that you may have.”
Castaing said the city’s goal is to get all mobile washers permitted by early July.
Code Enforcement Officer Yvette Fuentes unpacked the main points of the ordinance and what the permitting process will look like. She emphasized that mobile commercial washers must be mobile and may only operate on private property. Rather than their customers coming to them, where in the past they were often stationed on public roads, now washers must go to their clients’ homes to perform their services.
Car washers must also contain 95 percent of the water used while operating—the city suggested using a tarp with barriers and a tank—and then legally dispose of that water, rather than letting it go down storm drains.
“Whether you choose to use a mat or a tarp, the most important thing is that when you’re washing the vehicles, you’re just collecting the wastewater,” Fuentes said.
Folks calling in to the meeting expressed that this requirement doesn’t address the amount of water that evaporates while washing, especially on a hot day. One attendee, who identified as RC on the call, foresaw the requirement as a challenge to her operations.
“When you wash your car or water the plants, when water hits the pavement it evaporates within a couple minutes,” RC said. “So 95 percent collected water, that seems kind of impossible.”
Another workshop attendee, Roberto Aguilar, backed up RC’s comment.
“The point about the water evaporating is actually a very valid one,” he said. “On a hot day, it only takes a couple of minutes. … The hot surface of a car, especially on darker vehicles, they contain a lot of heat. As soon as you drop water on top of it, the water evaporates.”
Fuentes said that when water hits the pavement and evaporates, it still leaves the potentially harmful car wash residue dried on the ground, which could then be washed away into the storm drain at a later time. A tarp surrounded by barriers could help alleviate the issue, as it would catch the water, she said. Even if evaporation occurred, the residue would at least dry on the tarp and not the concrete.
“If it evaporates, you’re not going to count that as part of the [95 percent],” Castaing added. “It’s what’s left over, you want to make sure that you collect 95 percent of it. … It’s really just collecting what you can with what’s left over.”
Aguilar asked if he would be allowed to let as much water as possible evaporate as he performs his other services, such as cleaning the interior of a car.
“None of the water would be dropped into the drain system or anything like that, it would be still on the mat,” he explained. “Therefore my expense when I go and dispose of that water would be a minimal expense.”
City officials said that would be permissible, but Aguilar still had his concerns. Because part of the ordinance requires that car washers keep records of how much water they use and dispose of, he said he’s worried that if a washer’s disposal records don’t match the amount they used, they could get in trouble.
“I think that’s the main concern that people have, and if you could clarify that, it would mean a lot,” he said.
Officials responded that they do not anticipate requiring that the quantity used match up with the amount disposed of.
Also during her presentation, Fuentes suggested that washers use a tank to drop the collected water off at the city’s wastewater treatment plant, where the current rate of disposal is nearly 12 cents per gallon. Utilities Department Regulatory Compliance Specialist Antonio Bravo noted that people are charged based on the full capacity of their tank, not how much water is in it: So a 100 gallon tank, regardless of how full it is at the time of disposal, would cost about $12 every time it’s emptied.
RC expressed concern over the city’s wastewater treatment plant being closed on the weekend, when many mobile washers experience peak business.
“We all know that most people, I bet including you guys, wash your car on the weekends,” RC said, inquiring about how car washers would dispose of the collected water on Saturdays and Sundays.
“That’s just one option you have to dispose of the wastewater,” Fuentes responded. “We’re not saying that that’s the only disposal location you have. There’s other alternatives that you’re more than welcome to look into.”
When RC asked for examples of alternatives, adding that she had done research and couldn’t find any other options for wastewater disposal in Santa Maria, Fuentes said she didn’t have a recommendation but would look further into it. Bravo with the Utilities Department offered the option to dispose of the water in one’s home.
“The main purpose is really to prevent this water from entering the storm drain, but [it can] be disposed of in something like a sewer,” Bravo said. “So one option that we kind of spoke about is if you can dispose of it in your own sewer system at your house, then that is something that could possibly be accessible.”
Van de Kamp told the Sun in an email that there are no future workshops planned for the adopted ordinance.
Reach Staff Writer Malea Martin at mmartin@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 6-13, 2021.