TL;DR
Runoff containment is the capture and control of wash water generated during pressure washing so detergents, oils, paint chips, and grime do not flow into storm drains, which discharge to creeks untreated. The federal Clean Water Act and local ordinances make discharging process water illegal, so contractors deploy berms, drain covers, vacuum berm systems, and sump pumps to recover it for filtration or sanitary disposal.
What it means
Runoff containment is the capture and control of wash water generated during pressure washing so detergents, oils, paint chips, and grime do not flow into storm drains, which discharge to creeks untreated. The federal Clean Water Act and local ordinances make discharging process water illegal, so contractors deploy berms, drain covers, vacuum berm systems, and sump pumps to recover it for filtration or sanitary disposal. Fleet washing and garage-floor jobs draw the strictest enforcement.
Where it sits in the glossary
Runoff containment is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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