Clayton County, GA Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Sec. 98-7(l) of the Clayton County Code, part of the county's wastewater pretreatment article administered by the Clayton County Water Authority (CCWA), targets the water demand of commercial car washes. Its stated purpose is "to reduce water consumption from commercial car wash facilities by requiring all new conveyor car washes to install operational recycled water systems." The operative mandate in subsection (l)(4) is specific: "All commercial conveyor car washes, as of the effective date of this subsection, must install operational recycled water systems. A minimum of 50 percent of water utilized will be recycled."

The requirement is scoped narrowly. Subsection (l)(2) applies it "to all new conveyor car washes permitted and constructed after the effective date of this article section, regardless of the water source," while expressly carving out conveyor washes "permitted or constructed before the effective date of this subsection," which stay grandfathered under the old rules. It also excludes two other formats entirely: self-service car washes, where "customers wash their cars themselves with spray wands and brushes," and in-bay automatic washes, where "the driver pulls into the bay and parks the car" and "the vehicle remains stationary during the wash." Only a "conveyor car wash," defined as one "where the car moves on a conveyor belt during the wash," triggers the 50-percent recycling floor.

The ordinance defines a "recycled water system" as "a water system that captures and reuses water previously used in wash or rinse cycles," so a facility must actually reclaim rinse water rather than merely reduce flow rates to satisfy the section. Because Sec. 98-7 sits inside the county's broader pretreatment program, new conveyor car washes go through the same CCWA plan-review process as other regulated dischargers, which requires detailed plans and operating procedures to be submitted to CCWA before construction.