Smyrna, GA Water Use Rules: Recycled Water Rules (2026)

Section 102-57 of the Smyrna Code, Commercial car wash requirements, was adopted as Ord. No. 2019-13 on 6-17-19 and is part of Chapter 102, Utilities. Its 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 code defines a recycled water system as a water system that captures and reuses water previously used in wash or rinse cycles.

Subsection (b) separates three car wash types, and only one is regulated. A conveyor car wash is one where the car moves on a conveyor belt during the wash and the driver can remain in the vehicle or wait outside. An in-bay automatic car wash is one where the driver pulls into the bay and parks while a machine moves back and forth over the stationary vehicle. A self-service car wash is one where customers wash their cars themselves with spray wands and brushes. Under (c)(3), the section does not apply to self-service car washes or in-bay car washes.

Applicability turns on dates. Subsection (c)(1) applies the section to all new conveyor car washes permitted and constructed after January 1, 2019, regardless of the water source, and (c)(2) excludes commercial conveyor car washes permitted or constructed before January 1, 2019. Subsection (d), the operative mandate, requires all new commercial conveyor car washes permitted and constructed after January 1, 2011 to install and maintain operational recycled water systems, with a minimum of 50 percent of water utilized recycled. Both dates are printed in the section, so subsections (c) and (d) do not line up on which one controls.

A related provision sits in the landscape watering rule. Sec. 102-14(a) exempts from the 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m. watering window the capture and reuse of cooling system condensate or stormwater, reuse of gray water in compliance with O.C.G.A. § 31-3-5.2, and use of reclaimed waste water by a designated user from a system permitted by the state environmental protection division. Those exemptions concern landscape watering, not car washes. Sec. 102-57 itself prints no separate penalty clause.