Killeen, TX Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Section 8-242, adopted in 2024, requires the city department to run an annual certification program confirming every car wash in Killeen complies with its water-recycling standards. New conveyer and in-bay automatic car washes must install and use a water recycling system that reuses at least 50 percent of the water from previous vehicle rinses in subsequent washes, and any existing conveyer or in-bay automatic car wash already equipped with a recycling system as of the ordinance's effective date must keep using it at that same 50 percent reuse rate.

On top of the recycling mandate, the ordinance caps total water use per vehicle: new conveyer systems cannot use more than 35 gallons per vehicle, and new in-bay automatic washes cannot use more than 45 gallons per vehicle. New self-service car wash bays must use positive-cutoff spray wands limited to 3 gallons per minute, and every car wash, new or existing, must keep its washing equipment free of water leaks. The requirements apply specifically to conveyer, in-bay automatic and self-service formats; the ordinance does not set a numeric recycling requirement for other categories such as touchless hand-wash operations outside these listed equipment types.

Compliance is checked through the annual certification the Executive Director's department administers, rather than a one-time permit inspection, so a car wash that installs a recycling system still has to recertify every year that the system remains in service and meeting the 50 percent reuse threshold.