I was told personal by the EPA is that if you dislodge any particles from the surface you are cleaning, then you are responsible for the disruption of those particles and therefore must pick up the particles and dispose of them properly.
When you use a pressure washer, you remove more substance than an Act of God , meaning rain water.
If you disturb the substance for the purpose to " clean the area ", then you are responsible for " Cradle to Grave".
Here is an extreme example:
Moving 10 gallons of oil spilled on the sidewalk. You pressure washed the oil slick off the cement to the asphalt parking lot/ or the planter box, still makes you responsible. You do not have to "Pick it Up" to be responsible. Did the substance leave the property? NO. But you are getting paid to remove the oily debris and clean the area in question so others do not slip. YES. That makes you responsible. You moved it, you cleaned it, you got paid, you are responsible along with the owner. Thats what we do. By "Sweeping it under the Rug" YOU ARE STILL RESPONSIBLE. Whether you get caught is another story.
In the City of Concord CA. You cannot pressure wash anything unless you filter every drop Period.
Look it, sure some of us do not want to intrepid the laws that run off needs to be filtered providing that it dose not leave the property, AND IN SOME CITIES AND STATES this is true. However, the day is coming, and it will be sooner than later for some of us, that vacuuming and filtering will be mandatory for pressure washing.
Look it, the manufactures outlook is the writing on the wall. You are seeing more and more filtration products. More Vacuums with Surface Attachments. No company in their right mind would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for research and development if this was not true.
N. California is one of the states that requires, In more cities than not, filtering for more pressure washering situations. From paint removal on a home, cleaning a substance off the cement to Garage Cleaning.
Look it, it is not that much more work to have a vacuum boom and filter the water. IT'S NOT THAT COMPLICATED. Sure, you will not be able to do a wham bam thank you mam washing. Prices will go up, but this will weed out the wanna bees who cuts all of us, at one time or another, out of a fair profit and work. The time of spending 20 minutes on a job-site for $75 will be a thing of the past.
In the long run, this will regulate the industry just like the HVAC and anybody else you achieves a State Contractors LIC. Not just anybody can go and get a LIC in those type of fields without first learning either by proper schooling or years of apprentice and being tested about the laws and getting the proper equipment.
I welcome that day so that I don't get these fly by night companies who just got off the boat last night and start cleaning for 5 to 7 cents a foot.
There should be a professional standard of cost and profit, and we, as professional pressure washer contractors, should demand nothing less.