Waterless car washes make a splash

Waterless car cleaning has recently become popular in Shenzhen, with dozens of new car washes opening up.
With wet and dry towels, interior and exterior cleaners and waxes, a car is cleaned and polished, in and out within 20 minutes. And the entire process requires almost no water. ?We only use water to wash towels, and it takes less than one liter of water to clean a car using this method,? said Jia Hongtao, an executive of the Tongjing Waterless Car Wash Company.
?Usually washing a car would take 15 liters of water. There are now more than half a million registered automobiles in Shenzhen. By adopting waterless car cleaning, a great amount of water is saved, a good thing for Shenzhen, as the city is significantly short of water,? said Zhong Ming, an officer with the water resources bureau.
Besides conserving water, the waterless car wash also saves time. Most of the car washes are in underground garages of residential gardens as it requires no water pipes. ?People don?t have to wait as in conventional car washes. The car owner just gives the key to workers and goes home. When it is finished, we return the key to the owner,? said Jia.
The bureau had drafted water conservation regulations, which contain some favorable policies for waterless car wash companies, Zhong said. Once the regulations were in effect, the business would probably increase, said Zhong.
But so far, only a few people have tried the new cleaning method although quite a few have heard of it. ?I?ve never tried it before, but I am interested in it,? said Mr. Wang, a BMW car owner.