City Council in Michigan Approves Evaporation Allowance Discounts

By PlanetLaundry staff | Apr 07, 2010

The West Branch (Mich.) City Council voted 4-0 on Monday night to approve an ordinance enacting a 5 percent discount on sewer bills for self-service laundries in the city.

Essentially, the discount is a water evaporation allowance, and it applies only to the sewer portion of the laundromats’ sewer and water bills.

Ron Selley, owner of Selley’s Cleaners, had asked the council to consider the discount last month – accurately and convincingly pointing out that clothes are still wet when they are put into the dryer. Therefore, not all of the water used in a coin laundry ever reaches the sewer.

The West Branch council had introduced the ordinance at its March 15 meeting, and approved it upon its second reading earlier this week.

For laundry owners in other parts of the country who are still paying full price for their sewer costs, the Coin Laundry Association has created its Water Evaporation Allowance Toolkit. This members-only benefit contains all of the material and basic information coin laundry operators would need to request an evaporation allowance from their local sewer authority, including background information, sample letters, checklists, worksheets and a PowerPoint presentation to use when making their request.