Waste water from vehicle wash stations

The notification obligation covers automatic washing facilities or manual washing areas at car care facilities such as petrol stations, car repair shops, car reconditioning, do-it-yourself halls or other facilities where vehicle washing occurs.

Self-monitoring and water analysis

By conducting self-monitoring, operators must be able to meet the requirements that follow from Miljöbalken (the Environmental Code) and the authorities’ decisions. Part of the self-inspection can be recurring sampling of outgoing wastewater from the washing plant. For example, it is common for samples to be taken once a year at washing facilities that are from the notification level in washing frequency and upwards. Very large washes may need to check their emissions more often.

During sampling, normal activities should prevail so that there is a turbulent water flow. Collection samples are taken by our certified staff for a certain period of time, for example during a working day.

Environmentally hazardous activity

The Environmental Code’s regulations also apply when washing the car on the street, in the car park or in the garage driveway, as polluted water (wastewater) often flows down into the stormwater well whose water can end up untreated in the nearest watercourse. The washing water contains both pollutants from the car in the form of metals, oil products and other substances, as well as chemicals from the car care product.

Therefore, this type of car wash is considered an environmentally hazardous activity according to the Environmental Code. Car and vehicle washes must be done at do-it-yourself facilities or in automatic washes where there are requirements for water purification.