Does reducing water pollution mean dried-on crust on your dishes? It does if you ask some residents of Spokane, Washington, who are defying last July’s ban on selling phosphate-containing dishwasher detergents like Cascade and Electrasol.

The move was aimed at greening the area’s rivers and lake which often have algae build up as a result of the phosphates. The cleaning agents may cut through grease but it’s hard to break them down in wastewater treatment plants. The algae hogs the oxygen in the water that fish need to survive.

According to the Associated Press, law-abiding citizens have been turned into dishwater-detergent smugglers who are heading east on Interstate 90 into Idaho for phosphate detergents because the approved eco brands aren’t doing the job. Many people were unhappy with products like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Trader Joe’s – which “left their dishes encrusted with food, smeared with grease and too gross to use without rewashing them by hand. The culprit was hard water, which is mineral-rich and resistant to soap.”

The ban in Spokane will be statewide in 2010 as Washington joins Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Vermont, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. It could even go nationwide if a a bill on Capitol Hill passes. The makers of the conventional soaps had fought the bans but decided it made more sense to develop low-phosphate products. The ban will also take effect in Quebec in 2010 with the same goal of reducing algae contamination.

And what will happen to smugglers if their dirty little secret gets out? Apparently, the only crime is selling the toxic stuff, not using it.

Image: A.P.