Survey reveals environmental damage of car washing

It's a typical Sunday morning chore, but over half of British motorists are unaware of the environmental harm of regularly hand washing their cars.

Whilst nearly three quarters (74%) of Britons understand that their individual actions have an effect on the environment, they appear to be unaware that washing a car on streets and driveways causes dirty water to run into the nearest rivers and streams, where it affects water quality and harms wildlife.

Survey organisers Total UK and TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk say if half of the 43 million British motorists decided to hand wash their car, 14 billion litres of untreated water would flow into local waterways .