It wasn’t the expected wetness as we drove passed the sign which read ‘car wash’. The parched ground surface of Just Clean Car Care Services gave no indication of a well-used car wash.

As the drought continues, despite showers of blessings on Thursday last, and becomes more severe across the island, car wash operators in the Corporate Area have been negatively impacted by the poor weather conditions and National Water Commission (NWC) implemented restrictions.

“Business is really bad” Shay Newman, owner of Just Clean Car Care Services on Chelsea Avenue in St Andrew said in reference to the impact the drought had on his business, “everything dead, people don’t come. It stop business big time.”

He said customers would not come into the car wash because they would assume that the entity would be closed given the water restrictions.

According to Newman, the business has seen a drastic decrease in the number of cars to be washed since the start of the drought, outlining that his establishment would usually see up to 50 cars on an average day.

“Before people came in a lot, you used to see car wash have so many cars but now you don’t see any. Look one, two alone,” Newman said pointing to the cars his employees hurriedly cleaned.

But this seemingly dismal situation has not discouraged Newman and other car wash operators within the metropolitan area of Kingston and ST Andrew as they have found alternative water supplies and have continued operations as best as possible.

The operators have all resorted to using the services of water trucks and in most cases are solely dependent on the trucks – an additional cost to incur. The operators pay up to $30,000 to get water trucked to their establishments but have not increased the cost of their services.

The administrative assistant at the Ultimate Car Care establishment who identified herself as Miss Johnson described the cost as expensive and said the car wash pays “between $16,000 and $18, 000” each time water is trucked to the establishment.

“Is $31,000 for a 40 foot container but if you buy like a 3,000 gallon the cost is $9000, but them ago want tip cause dem ago ask wah u can do fi dem because dat a d boss money a no fi dem,” Newman told the Observer.

Johnson said the company’s five drums are refilled at nights if there is water in the main pipeline but often call on the trucks during the day for refills.

When asked how often he would truck water Newman said: “before it was twice a week and now it’s once every two weeks because there’s nobody coming to wash.”

But trucking has proved unreliable for the operators of the D & A Auto Care Centre as the lack of response from the trucks have prevented operations. “We were out of water for two days. We called the trucks but they didn’t come,” Janet, the company’s secretary said.

In an effort to conserve water, the operators have stopped providing some of the services usually offered under normal conditions. “We can’t do engine washes anymore we just do wash and vacuum,” she said.

The operators assured that they try to use the same washing process as though the water were there but sometimes to their detriment.

Making reference to the pressure pump machine used in many car washes, employee of the Just Clean Car Care Services who identified himself as Little John said: “When there is water we use the pump but if water nuh strong enough it nah go work. The water have fi up and if it nuh have as much water it burn up.”

“It’s basically the same process but when water is very low especially in the tank we have to use the hose, not many people like their cars washed by hose they want it to be power washed so when that happens they probably find other car wash establishments to go. When the power is high we can use the machine,” Johnson said.

Richie Smith, another employee at the Ultimate Car Care establishment expressed that he was concerned about the maintenance of the machine being used at his place to give power washes. He said it is the second machine since the drought and because of the limited supply of water to the machine, it has recently been pressured to carry out its function.

The machine, which he said cost $75,000 may have to be replaced when the drought is broken because of the additional pressure it is currently experiencing.

“When water come back an we get little rain we nah have no machine. The machine on now and di engine a run but di pump mash up. Nobody nuh want wash dem car wid no hose an hose use more water because machine a run air an water,” Smith said.

Last week the National Water Commission implemented stricter restrictions for sections of the Corporate Area, changing the alternating days to providing water to areas every three days.