Toilet Replacement at Cottonwood Campground

[nikorock28]

Toilet Replacement at Cottonwood Campground to Start November 3, 2015

Grand Canyon, Ariz. – Starting November 3, Grand Canyon Trail Crew will replace the 25-year old composting toilet facility at Cottonwood Campground. The existing four-stall facility has reached the end of its useful life and the trail crew will remove and replace it with a new four-stall building with solar-powered composting toilets.

The new building will be similar to composting toilet units located at Indian Garden, which were constructed in 2011. Those units require a fraction of the maintenance and the park has received numerous compliments from campers and hikers for these facilities.

Before demolition of the existing Cottonwood structure, the trail crew will set up several temporary toilets with wooden slat privacy screens for hikers and campers to use during construction. Short paths to these toilets will be marked with directional signs. To have a space for materials and on-site construction adjacent to the toilet building, crews will create a short detour from the North Kaibab Trail.

The Grand Canyon Trail Crew will be on site every other week starting November 3. Initial work will include mobilization of materials and temporary toilets, creating safe detours, removing waste, and complete demolition of the existing building. Beginning the week of November 30, the construction contractor- Advanced Composting Systems- will be on site building the new toilet structure. Work is anticipated to be done by December 18 when the new toilets will be open for use.

During the entire demolition and construction period, all work will be supported by helicopter transport. Approximately 50 flights will be needed to transport gear and materials in and out of the canyon. Noise associated with helicopter flights, demolition, and construction will be limited to daylight hours. Hikers and campers should follow detour signs and instructions from trail crew members.

[big_load]

I hope it will be less controversial than the composting toilets the NPS installed in the Delaware Water Gap NRA. People reacted as if they announced the Rangers would all be driving new Bentleys. Hearings were held, jobs were lost, it was a PR fiasco. However, I don't think any of the critics volunteered to learn firsthand why the NPS thought it was a good idea, and it seems to have worked out well in the long run.

[azbackpackr]

I was just there Monday-Wed. last week. Of four existing potties, only one was usable. Two were locked. A third was supposed to be in use, but it was covered in you-know-what. I reported this fact to the ranger at Phantom when I got there, asking that it be cleaned. She assured me it would.

She then asked me if porta-potties were in place there. I was puzzled by this question...shouldn't she know? Anyway, I said, no porta-potties are at Cottonwood. But now I understand, they will have them there temporarily pretty soon, and maybe she didn't know the exact date they were to be installed.

What a difference the newer Phoenix Composting Toilets are at Indian Garden! Wow! And guess what, Havasupai Campground, where I went in Sept., has the same kind!

[big_load]

@azbackpackr I suspect the composting toilets in NJ were among the first the NPS built. They were completed in 1996, but the fuss didn't really start until the next year. I'm glad they're gaining better acceptance.

[rcorfman]

What a crappy job that would be. I know where a temporary toilet is. See my avatar.

[autumnstars]

Yes, those new toilets at Indian Gardens are a great improvement over the old ones. So happy they are replacing the Cottonwood ones with the same.