CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As the spring blooms continue and pollen covers everything, a lot of people and businesses will be tempted to pressure wash buildings and sidewalks. If not incorrectly, it can be harmful to our streams, lakes and ponds.
Andrew from Storm Water Services says that one of the biggest things they see is runoff from commercial power washing. They explain some of the problems with commercial power washing and what people should be on the lookout for.
“Commercial power washing pressure washing covers a wide range of things,” Andrew explains. “So it could be anything from pressure washing the parking deck like here at Metropolitan, to pressure washing a gas station, paved area, or other parking lots and a lot of pollutants accumulate on those.”
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He continues, “you've got toxic metals from things like brake dust, and you've got petroleum fuels from drips and other contaminants. So when you pressure wash those surfaces, if you allow it to enter a storm drain, it's gonna go straight to the creek.”
Storm Water Services says this is a regularly occurring problem in Charlotte. With a limited staff on the lookout, they rely a lot on citizens calling in these kinds of issues when they see it.
According to Storm Water Services, if you hire a commercial power washer, there are questions you should be asking as a customer.
“Ask the pressure washing company, are they going to be using any chemicals? Are they only going to be using water? If they are using chemicals? What chemicals would they be? And are they aware of the storm water pollution control ordinance and the requirements for containing and capturing if they are going to be using those chemicals,” they explain.
If you're going to hire commercial power washing for your business, make sure you're doing some kind of mitigation, and go to charlottenc.gov/StormWater for that information.
If you see anything other than rain going into storm drains, you can always report pollution by calling 311.
This article contains commercial content from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services
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