Although admitting it has no authority on the matter, the Hermitage Planning Commission is hoping businesses that use lots of water will considering recycling it.

It's a conservation issue, and not just in term of lessening the impact on the environment.

Under a consent order with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the city is limited to 125 new connections to its sanitary sewer system. It has about 104 EDUs left. The EDUs expire in April and the city will have to ask the state for more.

A single connection is a tap-in by a single-family home, also known as an equivalent dwelling unit. Nonresidential tap-ins are assigned an EDU value based on an EDU equaling 400 gallons of water a day.

The commission felt compelled to weigh in Monday on what has been a low-level debate when asked to approval a sewage planning module for Palm Car Care Center. Lee Morgan of Greenville is proposing building an eight-bay car wash on South Hermitage Road, just south of Maple Drive.

The development has been assigned an EDU value of 20. Commission members reasoned the city could save some EDUs if businesses would recycle water.

"I hate to beat up on the car wash folks, but there are other applications," said commission Chairman Randy Coleman, whose motion that high-volume water users be asked to use recycled water was approved.

It's an issue the Hermitage Municipal Authority addressed in May when it approved Cal's Car Wash at 3990 E. State St. Owned by Jerry Calvert, the two-bay car wash was assigned an EDU value of 7.5.

Authority consulting engineer Joe Pacchioni said car washes generally do not use recycled water because of negative public perception and cost.

Marcia A. Hirschmann, the city's director of planning and development, noted that an EDU is not counted against the city's cap until a building permit is issued. Connections are approved on a first-come, first-served basis. Just because a developer's sewer module has been approved, doesn't mean there will be any left when it comes time to connect.

Regina Ehrhart, a Hermitage Zoning Hearing Board alternate member, said the city should have come up with a plan to allocate EDUs. She said substantial economic development projects should take precedence.

Whether the city could mandate the use of recycled water is unclear. Assistant City Manager Gary M. Gulla said there has been no movement by the commissioners to explore the possibility.

Ironically, the Palm Car Care Center might never be built. Consulting engineer Ed Winslow of Hermitage said Morgan lost his financing and the chances are 50-50 that he will move forward.

But the commission's approval of the planning module was important, Winslow said.

"If it doesn't get out of this body, the application is dead," he said.