Dean Taylor
Dean Taylor, CATEC.com
I get calls quite often from people who want to reclaim/recycle water from a dog/pet wash. I thought I'd post on here to offer an understanding of why it is NOT recommended.
Dog / Pet washes differ from car washes in that you are washing an animal, not a car. When washing living animals, we don't recommend reusing the water for a number of reasons.
1. Reclaim water still contains some soaps and surfactants as well as other products or by products that may have been used in the wash process; such as flea and tick control products, feces, urine and other undesirable pollutants. Although these are broken-down and/or eliminated with a good reclaim process, continious monitoring would have to be in place.
2. An animal could (and probably will) injest some of the reclaim water and make him/her sick. That could be a huge liability.
3. Although it could be done, a water treatment system that will remove all these products and produce virtual drinking quality water would be very cost prohibitive. Probably in the neighborhood of $80K.
In Summary, recycling water in a pet wash is not recommended. However, the wastewater could be treated for acceptable discharge or other applications such as irrigation.
Dog / Pet washes differ from car washes in that you are washing an animal, not a car. When washing living animals, we don't recommend reusing the water for a number of reasons.
1. Reclaim water still contains some soaps and surfactants as well as other products or by products that may have been used in the wash process; such as flea and tick control products, feces, urine and other undesirable pollutants. Although these are broken-down and/or eliminated with a good reclaim process, continious monitoring would have to be in place.
2. An animal could (and probably will) injest some of the reclaim water and make him/her sick. That could be a huge liability.
3. Although it could be done, a water treatment system that will remove all these products and produce virtual drinking quality water would be very cost prohibitive. Probably in the neighborhood of $80K.
In Summary, recycling water in a pet wash is not recommended. However, the wastewater could be treated for acceptable discharge or other applications such as irrigation.
