For 4 years, Hearst Castle guests have been forced to use portable toilets. Why?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Indoor restrooms closed due to failing water-supply network risk.
- Project to replace the water system is under fiscal and environmental review.
- Portable toilets provided under multi-year rental contract during planning.
One persistent experience for guests getting ready to tour Hearst Castle definitely doesn’t meet the park’s historic aesthetic: portable toilets.
And thanks to ongoing work to repair the water system at the park, they aren’t going away anytime soon.
Throughout the year, as many as 27 portable toilets are deployed in a line outside the Visitor Center and in the parking lot.
The toilets aren’t a completely unusual sight, as they were also deployed in 2016 and 2022 because of state water restrictions. But this time, they aren’t due to a drought.
Now, the problem is Hearst Castle’s overall water-delivery system and its aging infrastructure, according to Dan Falat, superintendent of the State Parks district that includes Hearst Castle.
Even though various repairs have been made during the declared drought emergencies and since, he said, serious problems have emerged with the entire 2.5-mile water network that works like a linked set of gravity-fed waterfalls carrying water from two springs on Hearst Ranch through pipes to a series of reservoir tanks.
“With the current water-supply issues, we couldn’t produce the amount of water to match the amount we’d need if we were to reopen the public restrooms at the Visitor Center,” Falat told The Tribune. “Restrooms use a lot of water.”
Some of the issues were fixed or patched as they were discovered, such as roots invading sewer pipes.
But with a system that includes segments dating back to the years after World War I, Falat acknowledged that’s like adding new parts to a really old car that still works, but barely and for how long?
Instead, what’s needed is a new “car” to meet modern standards and requirements.
A project to create the new system is in the works and is undergoing fiscal and environmental scrutiny, he said.
Crews have made fixes to the 1970s-era water-treatment plant on the hilltop, so it’s in good shape now, Falat said. “It was past its useful operational life.”
In the meantime, portable toilets remain at Visitor Center
“We appreciate everybody’s patience while we work through this process,” Falat said.
He added the hope is, within a year or so, “to get everything resolved and fixed and get things working the way they were,” so staff can reopen the permanent restrooms inside.
The current, four-year contract with Harvey’s Honey Huts of Cambria for portable toilet rental and service has been in force since late 2022 and runs through May 31, 2026, with a new, five-year version in the state approval process now, Falat said
The contract covers 16 to 27 portable restrooms, depending on the season, and 10 handwashing stations.
The 2022-26 contract totaled nearly $700,000, with the 2025/2026 segment slotted to cost $181,635.
That’s more than it would have cost to reopen the Visitor Center’s indoor restroom facilities, Falat said, but that’s not worth the risk of a potenially catastrophic failure.
Such a collapse likely would mean no water for the museum on the hilltop, Castle gardens and pools, the Visitor Center or the State Park offices.
As a result, for now, the portable facilities will remain lined up in a row to the side of the Visitor Center.
Others will remain available in discreet locations outside on the hilltop as well as in other parks throughout the San Luis Obispo Coast State Park District.
So, for the forseeable future, the portable restrooms will remain in use by everybody, including members of the public and State Parks staffers and volunteers.
“If I could fix it tomorrow, that’s what I’d do,” Falat said of the water-supply system, but “we can’t just go and buy a replacement off the shelf. This has to be done the right way.”
