It's spring! Time to break out the sponges and buckets for charity fundraising car washes.

But before you send all that oily, soapy water down the storm drain, Federal Way's Surface Water Management Division and the Puget Sound Car Wash Association (PSCWA) want to remind you that not only is this very harmful to wetlands, streams, and lakes, but it is also a violation of state, local, and federal pollution laws.

Unlike the sanitary sewer systems, water that runs into the storm drains goes directly to lakes, streams, and wetlands with little or no treatment. Runoff from car washes is highly toxic to aquatic life and is one of the reasons that streams are not as healthy as they should be.

Realizing that car washes are an important fundraising tool for many groups in the community, PSCWA and the City of Federal Way offer two environmentally safe solutions for sponsoring a charity car wash event that is in compliance with the laws. Please consider one of these methods when planning your next event:

The PSCWA Charity Car Wash Program

Through this program, a charity sells car wash tickets that can be used at several different car washes around the Puget Sound. The tickets, which are preprinted with the charity name and sold to groups at $2.00 each, are usually re-sold for $6 to $8 each.

The program is easy to use and tickets are easy to sell. To find out more, please call 1-800-509-WASH.

Parking Lot Charity Car Washes

While not the preferred choice, parking lot car washes can still be environmentally safe.

The City has special kits available that pump wash water into the sanitary sewer system, keeping contaminants out of local surface waters.

All Federal Way charities and groups may borrow these kits, at no charge, from the Public Works Department. To check out a parking lot car wash kit, please call 253-835-2752.

Curb marker program tries to raise public awareness

Did you know that every time we have a heavy rain it washes all the pollutants left on our roads and in our yards down our local storm drains?

These non-point source pollutants, like oil drippings from our cars and excess fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and animal droppings from our lawns, can severely degrade water quality and damage wildlife habitat in our local waterways.

The City's Surface Water Management Division has developed a Storm Drain Curb Marker public education and involvement program designed to increase public awareness that all City storm drains flow into our wetlands, streams, lakes and/or the Puget Sound with little to no treatment.

Through this program, local youth organizations, like Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and other special interest groups, volunteer a weekend morning to glue these colorful four-inch plastic markers to curbs, sidewalks or roads adjacent to catch basins in residential neighborhoods.

Curb marker kits are available to volunteer groups from May 1st through October 31st. If you or your organization is interested in volunteering for this program please contact Don Robinett at 253 835-2752 or e-mail him at donald.robinett@cityoffederalway.com.