Estimation of Water Utilized for Washing Vehicles in Shrigonda Town, India

Abstract

The rapid growth of urbanization leads to the demand for new vehicles. With increasing numbers of new vehicles, vehicle washing centers also increased. Most of these washing centers are used groundwater. As a result, the groundwater level is decreasing, leading to a shortage in the volume of groundwater. Therefore, the present study has observed 13 vehicle washing centers during the dry and wet seasons to calculate the water used to wash vehicles. The student t-test and one-way ANOVA test have been applied to test seasonal variation in water use for wash vehicles using SPSS software. During the study, 762 and 982 vehicles were observed in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. The result revealed that in the dry season, the mean water used to wash motorbikes was (95.83L), cars (219.62L), light motor vehicles (235.64L), and heavy transport vehicles (300.79L). On the other hand, during the wet season, the mean water volume used to wash motorbikes was (128.28L), cars (258.79), light motor vehicles (290.89), and heavy transport vehicles (415.40). During the dry season, 102301 liters per day, and in the wet season, 168114 liters per day of groundwater was used at the vehicle washing centers in Shrigonda town and discharged wastewater into the sewer system. The local Municipality has no guidelines, regulations, or monitoring mechanisms for effluent discharge in a sewer system. Therefore, an attempt has been made to calculate the quantity of groundwater utilized by all washing centers in Shrigonda town, which will be helpful to the Municipality in taking appropriate action.