Is this what made Charlotte react? Pressure Washing Accident

[EasyPro]

Nope...started off washing and then added landscaping!

I was the one who started off in landscaping.

[PressurePros]

I was the one who started off in landscaping.

Then made your entry onto PWN talking about the wood deck you messed up. Stone him!

[EasyPro]

Then made your entry onto PWN talking about the wood deck you messed up. Stone him!

I will never live that down .... now I'm rockin out with truck brushes lol

[PressurePros]

hahahaa.. you owe me your first born.

[Az Cleaning Equipment]

Yeah Carlos, send them a letter that says landscapers aren't washers.

Funny, RMEDBERY.

There's nothing like a heated argument and some humor in a forum. But I think the real discussion here should be: What can a responsible contractor do to prevent such an unfortunate incident?
well, aside from stocking "environmentally friendly detergents" for delicate projects such as being near a creek, it's indispensable to acquire equipment that prevents wash waster from ending up in the natural environment and thus polluting it.

"The pressure-washing lasted 11 hours, dumping the chemical from a stormwater drain near a CMC parking deck that faces the creek. Around noon Saturday, upstream from the drain, the water was clear and fish were alive; downstream, the water was clouded and the fish were dead.)"

That $10,000 fine could've been prevented by using a Vacu-boom (bottom).
A Vacu-boom is a portable dam and vacuum system, which is highly effective for containing spills for many hazardous materials. It collects the spent wash water and pumps it to a tank or to a recycle filter system.

[Tomdurbin]

I think these guys did the same thing alot of others do only they learned the hard way. They probably had bidders that were to "high" to do the work right. If you ask me the owner of the building is just as culpable for not specifing water recovery and pretreatmment to the city. The problem most of these jobs are planned by guys who don't know the law and the ramifications. This makes it our job as contractors to fully explain this when bidding the job. Everyone who is doing the right thing should carry copies of this article (from the paper or other source) and attach it to their quotes. Explain to the customer that they according to federal law have the same responsibilities as the contractor. Remember peoplle buy for two reasons to feel good or fear.

[JL Pressure]

I think these guys did the same thing alot of others do only they learned the hard way. They probably had bidders that were to "high" to do the work right. If you ask me the owner of the building is just as culpable for not specifing water recovery and pretreatmment to the city. The problem most of these jobs are planned by guys who don't know the law and the ramifications. This makes it our job as contractors to fully explain this when bidding the job. Everyone who is doing the right thing should carry copies of this article (from the paper or other source) and attach it to their quotes. Explain to the customer that they according to federal law have the same responsibilities as the contractor. Remember peoplle buy for two reasons to feel good or fear.

Educating the customers is the hard part for sure, for decades things have been done the old way and still is like that in much of the country, they are used to OLD WAY pricing on many types of cleaning

Good stuff Tom

[PressurePros]

Educating the customers is the hard part for sure, for decades things have been done the old way and still is like that in much of the country, they are used to OLD WAY pricing on many types of cleaning

Good stuff Tom

Jeff, this is where the org runs into a brick wall. If the UAMCC gets out and spreads the word to pm's and owners about the CWA, it gets torn to shreds. If we as contractors go in and bid $.10/sf on a large parking garage, we can sing, dance and educate all we want. We lose the bids. This is where the system is in failure. Too many contractors are short sighted and fight tightening reclaim regulations. We can't have six of one and a half dozen of the other. Either everyone (the gov't, the owners and the contractors) get on the same page or disasters like this article keep happening and lowballing, non compliant landscape companies win garage cleaning bids.

[jefferyjacobs]

I know that I'm a newbie and haven't experienced the things that you old pros have, but I attended a HOA BOD meeting last Thursday and found out that over half of their budget goes to a landscaping company (420,000). Guess who is doing the pressure washing? Not me (yet). There will always be people outside of our organization that do not have the education, equipment, or ability to do the jobs properly. Some will get in trouble and have to pay the big fines. As an organization we must do our best to educate our members and the general public to the correct ways to do things. I know that I want to learn and be the best at my trade that I can.

[Ron Musgraves]

Betsy Anderson and her husband, Mel Battle, were walking on the Little Sugar Creek Greenway on Saturday morning when they noticed that nothing in the creek was moving.

"There were just dead fish all over the place," Anderson said.

Hundreds of them died, from Carolinas Medical Center toward Freedom Park, after chemicals that were being used in pressure-washing leaked into the creek, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Stormwater Management officials. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and the Charlotte Fire Department were alerted early Saturday; a hazardous-materials team tested the water and determined there was "no immediate threat to the public, to workers or to nearby businesses", said Rob Brisley, spokesman for the Charlotte Fire Department.

The fish weren't so fortunate. CMC had hired ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance to pressure-wash new concrete on its property.

"ValleyCrest violated city and state laws by using an acidic chemical compound as part of its pressure-washing", said Rusty Rozzelle, water quality program manager with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Stormwater Management.

The acidic chemical lowered the pH levels in the water to 6 (7 to 9 is normal for the creek), killing the fish.

"ValleyCrest agreed to remove the dead fish and could face up to a $10,000 fine", Rozzelle said. ValleyCrest officials could not be reached for comment Saturday evening.

"CMC cooperated with authorities to determine the cause", said Debra Pierce, vice president of marketing for CMC.

Commercial pressure-washing is not a violation of drought-related city or county water restrictions, Rozzelle said. But the drought is an aspect of the incident: Low water levels in the creek added to the problem, Rozzelle said. The water flow was not sufficient to dilute the washing chemicals.The pressure-washing lasted 11 hours, dumping the chemical from a stormwater drain near a CMC parking deck that faces the creek. Around noon Saturday, upstream from the drain, the water was clear and fish were alive; downstream, the water was clouded and the fish were dead.)

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert...t=dis&lang=eng

-------------------------------------------------------

If this is a repost.. sorry about that. I've never seen it. Is this the incident that caused Charlotte to try and implement the tough initial restrictions?

I would Say that was it, except you guys found out a bit late.