Finally, some glass-half-full news about this drought: Cleaning your car is faster than ever.

The Houston-based Bubbles car-wash chain has begun equipping its express locations with new machinery that mixes and sprays soap and water more efficiently so that less falls unused to the floor. It's part of an ongoing drive to cut water consumption and costs, but founder and chairman Bill Lawrence says other changes are directly related to the dry spell that has parched the region and led several municipalities to order mandatory conservation.

This summer, for example, some nozzle tips have been shut off at Bubbles Express sites to decrease the amount of water sprayed onto vehicles, and the conveyor system that shuttles them through the automated washer has been speeded up. Because of adjustments of the ratio of water to chemicals, Lawrence said, cars get just as clean.

Consequently, car-wash times have been cut to 2 minutes, 45 seconds - down from 3 minutes, 10 seconds a year ago.

"We have a business interest in driving down the amount of water we use," said Lawrence.

Bubbles is not alone in that quest. Much like homeowners who have shut off sprinkler systems and rush through morning showers, local businesses are wringing new savings from their water bills while also helping the environment in its time of need.

The 5-star Four Seasons Hotel recently began furnishing rooms with a ceramic boot that guests place on their beds if they are willing to forgo having the linens changed for up to three days.

Hotel guests respond

Spokeswoman Elysia Sutherland says that since May, about 150 guests have taken up the offer each month, which could save the housekeeping staff from doing 3,300 pounds of laundry annually.

"We're trying to be green with everything we do here at the hotel," Sutherland said, adding that a program for guests who wish to reuse towels will be in place soon.

Likewise, restaurants are starting to save by the glassful, serving and refilling water only upon request, which reduces water and ice left untouched by customers who don't want it and cuts the times a glass has to be washed.

"In Houston, we're spoiled with good service everywhere you go," said Hadi Elhage, owner of Skewers Mediterranean Café and Grill. About six weeks ago, the waitstaff stopped automatically bringing water to tables and reflexively filling up glasses after every few sips. "Little by little," Elhage said, "I think people will get used to it."

Elhage, who recalls water being more expensive than gasoline when he was growing up in Lebanon, said he has started watering plants outside the restaurant every third day, rather than daily, even though his landlord pays the water bill. He's instructed the staff to run dishwashers only when full, and he has undertaken similar measures at home. He said conservation is just the right thing to do.

"Anything that is a natural resource should not be taken for granted," he said.

Changing habits

That is a welcome message to Lori Carper Baker, who started a "Texas Water On Request Campaign" on Facebook to encourage diners to take the initiative while eating out. Carper Baker, director of meetings and the international program for the Houston Association of Realtors, said she was moved to act after the drought forced her father in Uvalde to sell his herd of cattle. Then she started noticing how often water glasses remained unused in restaurants.

"We ought to think about it as our future," she said.

Troy Kimmel, a University of Texas senior lecturer and the chief meteorologist for KEYE-TV in Austin, said such efforts could prove doubly beneficial in a growing state where the water supply is likely to be the No. 1 public challenge over the next 100 years.

The cumulative effect of small savings could be significant, he said, and talking about conservation also should get people thinking about other things they can do.

But changing habits might take a little time, as Mimi Del Grande, owner and manager of RDG + Bar Annie, found out after the upscale Galleria-area restaurant started serving water only upon request two months ago.

"You cannot believe how angry some customers got," she said. "'Of course we want water!' I was stunned."

Del Grande, who grew up in rain-starved Southern California, said she even has the RDG staff dump unused ice, tea and water in containers that she uses to water plants.

"I just hate throwing all that water away," she said. "Cleaning a table of 10, and 10 glasses of water haven't been touched, that's a sin to me."

ronnie.crocker@chron.com

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