It's a typical Sunday morning chore, but over half of British motorists are unaware of the environmental harm of regularly hand washing their cars.
A survey reveals that 51% of polled car owners wrongly believe a hand wash is less damaging to the environment than automatic drive-in wash machines.
Whilst nearly three quarters (74%) of Britons understand that their individual actions have an effect on the environment, they appear to be unaware that washing a car on streets and driveways causes dirty water to run into the nearest rivers and streams, where it affects water quality and harms wildlife.
Survey organisers Total UK and TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk say if half of the 43 million British motorists decided to hand wash their car, 14 billion litres of untreated water would flow into local waterways .
The study also reveals that nearly six out of 10 (58%) motorists are potentially putting a bigger strain on the environment by washing their car once a month or more, and 430,000 (1%) are doing so more than once a week.
It would appear that women drivers are the worst offenders, with two per cent of the fairer sex admitting to cleaning their car once a week, compared to one per cent of men.
Faye Sunderland, Editor, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk, says: It’s shocking to see how many people are not aware of the impact hand washing a car has on the environment. It’s a serious issue as phosphates from the detergents used to clean vehicles can cause excess algae to grow, which not only affects the water quality but uses up oxygen in the water that is required for fish and other marine life to survive.
“Using a regulated car wash helps avoid this potential devastation as it ensures the water is properly treated before being pumped back into the waterways.”
The study also identifies a knowledge gap among British motorists when it comes to estimating the amount of water used to wash a car, but it seems men are much less realistic than women. Over 16.5 million (71%) male drivers believe hand washing uses less than 50 litres of water, compared to just 12.7 (61%) million female drivers. In truth, hand washing uses 650 litres when using a hose pipe - six and a half times higher than a roll-over car wash .
Sunderland added: “Using a hose pipe to wash your car at home can waste an incredible amount of water. One of the benefits of roll over car washes is that they can still operate during hose pipe bans thanks to the water usage reduction.”
Robert Doyle, car wash manager at Total UK, commented: “The gap between motorists’ perception and reality when it comes to washing their cars is a real eye opener and hopefully this study will encourage people to reconsider how they keep their cars clean.”
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