China: Beijing Water Wastage Being Associated to Carwash Industry

Car washing should use specially recycled water. But almost all car washing facilities are using residential water which is illegal.
According to the rule set by Beijing government, car washing water is priced at 41 yuan per ton while the residential water is only 3 yuan per ton. By setting higher price,the city authority hopes to encourage saving water in car washing.

However, no rule is set on limit of residential water. Many car washing stores have disregarded rules and use the cheaper residential water.  Statistics show that little car washing water have been used. Xing Aiyi, CPPCC Member, said, "Only 23 thousand tons of car washing water was used in 2008. That is far less than the 30 million tons, the total amount of water used for car washing."

Experts suggest to set limits on residential water and enforce the current reguations with heavier punishment on violation.

However there are two sides to every story!  The Beijing authorities  have always promoted using claimed water for car washing and set the price of claimed water at only 1 yuan per ton. But as many areas of the city have not built enough pipelines for reclaimed water, it is still not an economic and realistic source for car washing.

PetrolWorld 210809   Source: CCTV