Porta Potty Rental for Church and School Events

Why rent portable toilets when the campus has restrooms?

Because the restrooms that serve a school day or a Sunday service often cannot serve the event.

• They are locked. After hours and at weekends, classroom wings are closed and alarmed. Opening them means paying custodial staff and letting the public into buildings.
• They are too few. A campus sized for 700 students in staggered breaks is not sized for 2,000 graduation guests arriving in the same half hour.
• They are too far. The field, the overflow parking lot or the back lawn can be a long walk from the nearest building, and small children do not make long walks.
• The septic system has limits. Rural churches on septic have a system designed for a normal Sunday, not a three-day fiesta.

A few portable restrooms on the field or lot let the buildings stay locked and keep the crowd where the event is.

What kinds of church and school events need units?

If your event has rides and a midway, see fairs and carnivals. For league play and tournaments on school fields, see sports tournaments. All event types are listed on the event rental hub.

Does a church or school event need a permit?

Often not, when the event stays on the campus. The rules differ by jurisdiction.

Unincorporated Riverside County (French Valley, Winchester and other county areas). The county's temporary event rules exempt events held entirely on public property or a public school site, and events at a legally established facility that are consistent with its land use approval (Riverside County Code §17.256.040, as adopted in Ordinance No. 348.4966). Exempt events must still meet health and safety rules.

Inside a city. Each city writes its own exemptions. Wildomar's application lists a $150 fee for non-profit organizations with a Wildomar address, which shows that non-profit events there are still expected to apply (Wildomar application). Ask the planning department whether a campus event open to the public needs a temporary use permit.

What usually triggers a permit even on a campus:

• The event is advertised to the general public, not only to families or members.
• Any part of it uses a street, sidewalk or city park. Murrieta requires a special event permit when any part of an event takes place on city streets (City of Murrieta).
• Food is sold. Riverside County Environmental Health asks event organisers to submit their application, map and vendor list at least two weeks before the event (Riverside County Environmental Health).
• Alcohol is served, which needs a state ABC licence.

When a permit is needed, lead times run from 30 days in Temecula to 60 days in Menifee, Lake Elsinore and Wildomar and several months in Murrieta. The permit guide has the forms.

Outside groups on a school campus. A church, league or community group renting school grounds needs the district's approval before anything is delivered. Temecula Valley Unified handles facility requests through an online reservation system and reviews them under its board policies (TVUSD facility use). Tell the district you plan to bring portable toilets and ask where they may be placed.

How do you work with facilities staff?

On a campus, the person who orders the units is rarely the person who controls the site. Bring the site's facilities contact in early: the district's maintenance and operations office or the plant manager at a school, the facilities manager or a trustee at a church. Settle these with them before you call us:

1. Where may units stand? Asphalt at the edge of a lot or blacktop is best. Most districts will not allow a truck on turf, an all-weather track or a synthetic field.
2. Which gate, and who opens it? We need a gate wide enough for the truck and a person with the key at delivery and pickup.
3. Are there irrigation lines, valve boxes or sprinkler heads near the spot? Units and trucks should stay off them. Ask for the sprinklers on that zone to be turned off while the units are there.
4. Will the campus restrooms be open as well? If some are, you need fewer units.
5. Who is the contact on the day, and what is their mobile number?
6. Does the district or diocese need a certificate of insurance from us? We provide certificates of insurance, including additional-insured certificates, on request.

Send us a marked-up campus map or a phone photo of the spot and we will confirm whether the truck can reach it.

When can you deliver to a school?

Around the bell schedule, not during it. A service truck should not be moving through a drop-off line or across a playground at recess.

We deliver the day before or the morning of your event and pick up afterward or the next day, depending on the schedule.

We are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week. If units stay on a campus overnight or over a weekend, place them inside the fence line. You can padlock a unit overnight with your own lock. Leave it unlocked, or give us the combination, on service day.

How many units, and what about hand washing for children?

For a crowd with no other restrooms, the PSAI planning chart gives 4 units for 500 people over two hours and 5 over four hours; for 1,000 people, 6 and 8 (PSAI). Reduce that if campus restrooms are open. Raise it for a graduation, where nearly everybody goes in the 30 minutes before the ceremony. Work out your own numbers with the porta potty calculator.

Accessible units. At an event open to the public, each group of units needs at least one accessible unit under the California Building Code (CBC §11B-213.2). At school and church events they do double duty: an ADA-accessible unit has room for a parent to go in with a small child, and grandparents use them at graduations. Place it on pavement with a level route from the seating.

Hand washing at child height. Children wash their hands only if they can reach the water. Ask us about basin height when you order hand-wash stations. Practical steps that work with any station:

• Set stations on level ground so a child is not reaching uphill.
• Put one at the snack table and one at the toilets, not only at the toilets.
• Do not rely on sanitizer for food. For food booths, the county says sanitizer does not replace hand washing (Riverside County DEH).

What does it cost a non-profit?

Event rentals start at $189 per unit.

Ways to keep the bill down on a volunteer budget:

• Count the restrooms you can open. Unlocking one building for adults and renting two units for the field may be cheaper than six units.
• Order one accessible unit and one hand-wash station first, then add standard units to reach your count.
• Ask for one written quote that the PTA board, booster treasurer or parish council can approve. It will show the units, the service visits and a delivery and pickup fee. We add no fuel or environmental surcharges.

General rates are on the pricing page.

Church and school event FAQ

Who should sign the rental: the PTA, the school or the district? Whoever is paying. A PTA or booster club is a separate organisation from the school and can rent in its own name, but the principal or district still has to approve placement on campus.

Can units stay on campus for a whole season? Yes. A standing rental with weekly pumping, cleaning and restocking suits sports seasons and summer programs. Weekly service is included on 28-day rentals.

Where do you deliver? To campuses across the region, including Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, French Valley, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Perris and Hemet. See all service areas.

Get a quote for your church or school event

Call (951) 517-3600 or send the form with the campus address, date, expected crowd, hours and gate times. Add the name of your facilities contact and we will plan delivery with them.