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The floating restroom at San Vicente Reservoir. (Photo courtesy of the city of San Diego)By JW August, Times of San Diego
Sept. 13, 2025 (Lakeside) -- Good news for anyone who uses San Vicente Reservoir to fish, swim or boat — the 1,600-acre reservoir has a new floating bathroom.
The previous floating john is past its expiration date, so a timely grant from the California Department of Parks and Recreation is funding the project. Compared to other public bathroom adventures in San Diego’s history, this is a relative bargain at $225,197.50.
The San Diego City Council’s Environment Committee was to review the grant offer at its meeting Thursday, and if it agreed to the deal, the proposal will then head to a council vote and the mayor’s sign-off.
That’s the hope, as the new floating WC is already sitting dockside.
The reason, said city spokesperson Jennifer McBride, is that “the state approved the grant and delivered the restroom, but the final grant documents were delayed from the state.”
In lieu of paying for the floating toilets, the grant obligates San Diego to install, operate and maintain the platform. The costs are said to be $9,050 a year for the city’s side of the deal.
The grant is provided through a partnership between the state and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Clean Vessel Act program “to provide floating restrooms to prevent sewage from entering our valuable waterways.”
According to Kevin Murphy with the Department of Parks and Recreation, the platforms “can be towed to shore for scheduled maintenance and pumping of their holding tanks or pumped out on-site by pumpout boats.”
He said there is approximately $20 million in federal Clean Vessel Act grants to build and deploy 289 units, with “an estimated 115 restrooms currently in use throughout California at approximately 40 lakes and reservoirs in California.”
San Vicente Reservoir, which is the city’s largest reservoir, is deep — 306 feet when full — and captures water from the San Vicente Creek and the Colorado River Aqueduct from Lake Havasu.
As for an environmental review, it’s not necessary, according to the city. The California Environmental Quality Act does not apply because the project replaces an existing floating bathroom and “will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced,” as explained in the staff report headed to the Environment Committee.
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