Water cuts: car washes unfairly and detrimentally targeted

I HAVE an urgent matter I feel needs to be addressed concerning water restrictions and small business. I’m sure what I have to say will upset a few water warriors, but many might agree with my views.

We own a small, formal, registered car wash which uses high-pressure cleaners, which are more water efficient than hosepipes. We employ six permanent staff members, besides ourselves, trying to draw an income from the business.

We applied for exemption on May 31. We asked our landlord for copies of our water consumption figures and submitted these as motivation for our application. On July 7, a law enforcement officer came to our business with a list of the latest regulations regarding the level 4b restrictions, and informed us that our application was declined and we had to cease operations using municipal water with immediate effect.

We received neither a written notice nor grace period in which to make possible adjustments or put alternate measures in place. We had introduced a waterless cleaning product which was offered to our clients. All of them refused to use it on their vehicles.

Our water consumption averages between 19kl during winter and 35kl in peak season. By comparison, the small (and not very busy) hair salon in the same building uses 14kl and the laundry a whopping 97 to 114kl a month. (I am more than happy to submit documents to prove this.)

Can someone please explain to me why no other businesses that use water as part of their operations have been targeted? We investigated the option of installing a water-recycling system but it will cost almost R200 000. It’s money we don’t have. We paid a considerable sum of money to buy the business (which will take about four years to pay off), plus make improvements.

We stand to lose everything because we cannot operate without being heavily fined or even arrested. We have to dismiss all our staff, people who have families to feed. We will have to pay them severance packages, again with money we don’t have. We have two rented containers we operate from and a three-year lease with our landlord.

It seems like our local government has taken the decision to target car washes because they are perceived to be one of the biggest users of water, without having done any research on the matter, and because it’s a quick and easy solution. I could run five car washes with the consumption of just one laundry.

Surely, there must be a better way to handle this issue instead of making a “blanket ban” on car washes alone? Why can’t we be judged by our consumption or given a water quota to keep our businesses running? At the current number of cars we service, we don’t feel it’s viable or necessary to install a recycling system. We are washing an average of only 20 cars a day.

Hopefully another solution to the car wash issue can be found. We are not the only ones suffering from these measures. Many car washes around us have been forced to close because they just cannot comply. Melissa de Nobrega Table View