Kärcher Mississippi Water Recovery System – 30 GPM Wash Water Recovery

Pressure washing a parking lot, a fleet yard or a building is the easy part. The hard part is where that water goes. Once it carries oil, soap, paint chips or grease into a storm drain it is illegal discharge, and the fines land on the contractor holding the wand. The Kärcher Mississippi is the machine that stops it: park it curbside, drop the scupper head at the low point, and it vacuums the wash water up as fast as you put it down — 30 gallons a minute — and holds it for proper disposal. 30 GPM recovery A 120V transfer pump moves 30 gallons a minute out of the scupper and into the tank. That keeps up with most surface cleaners in real work. 27-gallon tank High-density polyethylene — UV protected, chemical resistant, and it shrugs off being dropped off a trailer. Handles hot water Rated to 120°F, so it works behind a hot water pressure washer, not just a cold one. 3-stage vacuum 100 CFM at 100″ of sealed lift — a constant pull that doesn’t fade as the hose fills. Plugs into a wall 120V, 15 amps, with a 15-foot cord. No generator needed — though a 3,500 watt one will run it if there’s no outlet. Bolts to a trailer The base is drilled for a bolt-on mount, and the footprint is small enough to leave room for the washer and the tank. Why this machine exists Under the Clean Water Act, wash water from commercial cleaning is not allowed to enter a storm drain. Municipalities are enforcing it harder every year, and more and more jobs — restaurants, fleets, gas stations, construction sites — now require proof of recovery before you can bid. The Mississippi is what turns “we can’t take that job” into a line item you charge for. What it comes with, and what it doesn’t 50 feet of high-temperature 2″ vacuum hose — included, not an add-on Scupper head — the flat pickup that sits in the water and does the collecting 27-gallon recovery tank with high-water shutdown Filter basket that lifts out through the top of the unit to dump solids Bulkhead fitting, so you can plumb it into a bigger auxiliary tank when 27 gallons isn’t enough About the wheels in the photos Kärcher photographs this unit with the caster wheel kit fitted, and that kit is an option, not standard. The Mississippi ships on its molded base with integrated handles. If you want it to roll around a site rather than be lifted, Kärcher makes a caster wheel kit for it — call or text 888-565-6163 and ask us about it. How it is used Fleet and truck washing — oil, road film and detergent recovered instead of running to the drain. Restaurants and grease pads — the job most likely to be inspected, and the one that most needs proof. Gas stations and fuel islands — hydrocarbon runoff that absolutely cannot reach a storm sewer. Construction sites — concrete slurry, saw water and equipment wash-down. Parking decks and sidewalks — gum, grease and city contracts with a recovery clause in them. It works with any pressure washer, including hot water machines. Most crews run it behind a Kärcher pressure washer with a surface cleaner, and Kärcher offers a Mosmatic surface cleaner with a vacuum port built in that hands the water straight to the Mississippi. Specifications Model Kärcher Mississippi Recovery Part number 1.103-516.0 Recovery rate 30 GPM Tank capacity 27 gallons, high-density polyethylene Vacuum motor 3-stage, 100 CFM, 100″ sealed lift Transfer pump 120V, 30 GPM Electrical 120V, 15 amps, 15 ft cord (or a 3,500 watt generator) Maximum water temperature 120°F Vacuum hose 50 ft of high-temp 2″ hose, included Listing ETL listed Pump warranty 7 years Shipping weight 127 lbs Shipping dimensions 24″ L × 27″ W × 59″ H Accessories for the Mississippi — ask us Kärcher builds a short list of add-ons for this machine. They are not on our shelves, so they are not listed for sale here — but call or text us at 888-565-6163 and we will tell you what each one does and where you stand on getting it. Caster wheel kit — the wheels shown in Kärcher’s photos, so the unit rolls instead of being lifted Mosmatic surface cleaner with vacuum port — washes and recovers in one pass Vacuum discharge hose kit — moves the recovered water back out of the tank Drain covers and water dikes — pen the water in so the scupper can reach all of it Spare 50 ft high-temperature hose and scupper head — one of each already comes with the machine Talk to a person first Water recovery is one of the few jobs where the accessory decides whether the setup works at all. Before you order anything, call or text 888-565-6163 and tell us the surface, the machine you wash with and where the water has to end up. It is a five-minute conversation that saves buying the wrong thing. Recovery unit or trash pump? Kärcher Mississippi Recovery $2,860.00 Kärcher WWP 80 Trash Pump $1,970.00 The job Capture wash water so it never reaches a drain Move standing water somewhere else, fast Water rate 30 GPM 370 GPM Holds the water? Yes — 27-gallon tank for disposal No — pumps straight through Solids Filter basket catches them Passes 1″ solids straight through Power 120V wall outlet, 15 amps Honda GX270 gas, 8.4 HP Picks up from A thin film on a flat surface Standing water, up to 26 ft below it They are not competing machines. If the problem is where the water is allowed to go, you need the Mississippi. If the problem is simply get this water out of here, you need the trash pump. Plenty of contractors end up owning both — the pump for flood and dewatering calls, the Mississippi for the wash contracts that require recovery. Do I legally have to recover my wash water? In most of the country, yes, if the water carries anything — detergent, oil, grease, paint, concrete slurry. Under the Clean Water Act a storm drain runs to a creek or a river, not to a treatment plant, so anything that goes in it goes there untreated. Rules and enforcement vary by municipality, so check with your local authority. Increasingly the customer asks for proof before they will even take a bid. Can it keep up with a surface cleaner? For most work, yes. It recovers 30 gallons a minute, and a typical surface cleaner puts down 4 to 8 GPM. The limit in practice is not the pump — it is whether the water can get to the scupper. That is what the water dikes and drain covers are for: they pen the water in so it collects instead of spreading out into a film the scupper can’t reach. What happens when the 27-gallon tank fills? Two things stop it overflowing: a high-water shutdown built into the unit, and a bulkhead fitting on the tank. On a real job you plumb that fitting to a larger auxiliary tank on the trailer, so the Mississippi becomes the pickup and the trailer tank becomes the storage. Twenty-seven gallons is a buffer, not the whole day’s capacity. Will it work with a hot water pressure washer? Yes. It is rated for water up to 120°F and ships with high-temperature vacuum hose. That is not true of every recovery unit — a cold-rated hose will soften and collapse behind a hot machine. Does it need a generator? Not if there is an outlet. It runs on ordinary 120V household power at 15 amps, with a 15-foot cord. If there is no power on site, a 3,500 watt generator will run it. Can I mount it on my trailer? That is what it was designed for. The base has a bolt-on mounting pattern, and the footprint is deliberately small so the washer, the water tank and the recovery unit all fit on one rig. Does it filter the water for reuse? It catches solids in a filter basket, which keeps the pump alive and makes disposal cleaner. It is a recovery unit, not a full recycling system — the water is collected for proper disposal or for treatment elsewhere, not sent back to the washer. Call or text 888-565-6163 if you need a closed-loop recycling setup and we will talk through what that takes. The Mississippi lives in our water recovery systems section, alongside the rest of our commercial cleaning equipment.