Posted on 10/25/2013 10:10:17 AM PDT by markomalley
It’s hard to wave your spirit fingers when the city shuts down the cheerleading squad’s fundraising car wash to protect the environment.
This is what happened to Lincoln High School cheerleaders trying to raise money to attend a national competition in April. The San Jose Mercury reports that local environmental officials warned the high school cheerleaders that their car wash violated the city’s water discharge laws.
“We had a visit from the city of San Jose Environmental Services Department who said that the car washes at Hoover [Middle School] are in violation of water discharge laws, therefore we had to cancel this and all future car washes,” said an email that was sent out to neighborhood email lists on Oct. 18.
“Anything that is not storm water or rain water is considered a pollutant,” said Jennie Loft, acting communications manager for San Jose’s Environmental Services Department. “If it goes into a storm drain, that pollutant will harm wildlife and habitats in the creeks. Water goes directly from the storm drains into our creeks.”
The city intervened in response to two complaints received about the car wash events Lincoln High Schoolers had been holding at Hoover Middle School. City officials reached out to school and district staff to give them information on how to prevent pollutants from getting into storm drains.
The city also gave some tips on how they can have legally compliant cars washes.
The Mercury reports: “Conduct car washing over gravel, grassy area, or other earthen areas if possible… Ensure that wash water (soapy or not) does not run into a street, gutter, or storm drain… Wash water from paved areas should be collected and diverted either into the sanitary sewer system or a landscaped area… Use different methods to protect the storm drain system… Ensure no soap stains remain on the ground.”
These byzantine regulations don’t just apply to high school sports teams struggling to raise money, but also to individuals who want to give their car a rinse.
“What most people should do if washing their cars at home is park it on the lawn so the water is diverted into landscape,” Loft said. “Or go to a designated neighborhood car wash, so it doesn’t go into the storm drain.”
According to the Mercury, the Lincoln High School cheerleaders still need funds to get to their competition and are welcoming contributions by check to “Lincoln Cheer 2013-2014, Lincoln High School, 555 Dana Ave., San Jose, 95126, attention Mrs. Phillips.”
Are tears also covered?
What a goofy f’n world.
I hope those students affected see what has happened.
He’s the EPA inspector who tried to shut down the Ghostbusters’ operation.
Nekkid is OK, but no clothing or body paint displaying the American Flag.
My town limits watering to once every 2 weeks.
and its rained a lot lately.
My local Stage 2 Water restrictions.
http://www.saws.org/conservation/droughtrestrictions/StageTwo.cfm
I live in Texas and I see several fundraising car washes every weekend from the start of the school year until it gets too cold.
We have them all the time. Ain’t no way in hell the people of Oklahoma would let the Gestapo tell us we couldn’t have a car wash! The soap run-off problem....really???
Just curious, when it happens to rain on those 500,000 dirty San Jose vehicles where does all that filthy water go?
The city is taking care of that problem as well i imagine, or maybe they should fine or ban god while they are at it.
I HATE Leftists.
San Antonio is not that wevere. Yet. And we had a good wet summer too. My St. Augustine was (and still is) green.
wevere = severe.
Sheesh.
Many people are surprised by all this crap. I’m not. I know how they think. They are communists and want to control everything.
I’m about 40 miles from San Antonio
Nope it is not the water that is the pollutant, it’s the soap and the runoff from impervious surfaces going into the storm drain system. I live in an area where two major river systems are under serious threats because of urban and agricultural runoff. Diverting runoff into retention ponds or following other practices that minimize or eliminate it all together are not draconian. Now I should mention the main threat our rivers face is because of Army Corps of Engineer’s policy on discharging water from Lake Okeechobee. They of course never have to show the same concern for valuable natural resources as us common folk.
The city in this instance explained how to avoid violating policy and the changes needed are not that drastic, don’t wash cars on the pavement, divert it to a retention area. This is not a case of nonsense rules made to oppress innocent citizens and well intentioned students.
Yup—our water shortage in my area (Austin) is really severe.
I’m looking out my window at Lake Travis. I’ve never seen it down this low. We have gotten a few inches of rain in the last week or so, and it’s helped a bit, but our water usage is still restricted.
I just wish we could get enough rain to refill Medina Lake. Have you seen that place lately?
Wow.
Paul Wevere was a weaver who wanted a waiver where-ever he went.
Look up “run off” and figure out how it is a source of pollutants to rivers, and creeks, and why that might possible harm valuable wildlife and impact the local economy.
My name is Peck
At least you have water. My place at Medina Lake is dry.
At last report that lake was about 5 percent full.
:(
Weawwy? (Elmer Fudd speak)
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