According to Pierre Chasseray, spokesperson for the 40 Million Motorists association, closing car washes to save water is “heresy”.
Winter is dry in France. Reason why the executive is already thinking ways to save water, in anticipation of the weeks and months to come. For this, the project close the washing centers, as in 2022, is advanced. A bad idea, according to Pierre Chasseray, spokesman for 40 Million Motorists. That would indeed promote home washingforbidden because it consumes much more water and does not treat pollutants :
“It is heresy to want to close washing centers because. We will end up with a situation in which people will clean their cars at home more, as happened in 2022. So we use more water and we pollute more. » « In the washing station, 60 liters of water are used on average for cleaning. We recover 95% of it, purified. Home washing is 340 liters lost in nature and the pollutants that go with it. »
“There is a kind of tolerance which is applied by the State services but washing at home is prohibited. It consumes more water, the pollutants are dumped directly into the soil. There are disgusting things lying around on a car (arsenic, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, oils,… Editor’s note). Just run your finger over a car after driving to understand. It rolls behind exhaust pipes so it collects pollutants. »
Car washes, a solution rather than a problem
Home washing is 37% of practices. In 2022, with the closure of car wash centers, this phenomenon increased by 12%. Closing the centers is therefore counter productive, according to 40 Million Motorists. What Pierre Chasseray strives to make the authorities understand:
“We have just arrived on the file and we are trying to ensure that our arguments reach the offices of the parliamentarians and ministers concerned. “The politician hears that the French are not going to understand that they are allowed to clean their car. Whereas if, they will understand very well, if we explain to them. » « I have heard a lot of ecologists (…) say that we must take common sense measures and ban car washes. However, it is quite the reverse. It is crucial. »
“The French will understand that there is an interest, because there, it is heresy. People will still wash their cars. So how do we do it? Do you prefer the car to be badly washed at home or well washed with good management of water and pollutants, in a car wash? Especially since a poorly cleaned car spills its pollutants with the rain (…) It would take a real communication campaign to explain that cleaning your car in a car wash is environmentally friendly and wastes less water. »
Read also on Auto-Moto.com
