Porta Potty Rental for Festivals and Concerts

How many portable toilets does a festival with alcohol need?

There are two published methods. They count different things, so use one or the other and do not average them.

Method 1: the PSAI chart. The Portable Sanitation Association International chart counts single portable toilet units by crowd size and hours (PSAI). PSAI says to add 10 to 20% when alcohol is served. San Bernardino County Environmental Health publishes the same chart and says to add 40% (San Bernardino County).

Method 2: the FEMA table. FEMA's special events planning manual counts fixtures by sex: men's toilets, urinals and women's toilets, with sinks listed separately. It has one table for events without alcohol and a higher one for events with it, then scales the result by duration (FEMA IS-15 toilets extract, hosted by Montana DPHHS).

FEMA applies 100% of those numbers to events over 8 hours, 80% to events of 6 to 8 hours, 75% to 4 to 6 hours and 70% to anything shorter.

How they compare. For 5,000 people over 6 to 8 hours with alcohol, FEMA gives 82 toilets and urinals, or about 66 at 80%. PSAI gives 50 units, rising to 60 or 70 with the alcohol allowance. The answers land in the same range, but FEMA expects many of the men's fixtures to be urinals and far more women's toilets than men's. Two lessons carry over to a festival order whichever chart you use:

• Give women more capacity than a 50/50 split suggests. PSAI also says to add units when the crowd has more women than men.
• Count sinks. FEMA lists 40 for that crowd. Order hand-wash stations in proportion, not one or two as an afterthought.

For other crowd sizes, use the festival unit calculator.

Why do lines form even when the count is right?

Because festival use is not spread evenly. Both charts assume steady use across the event. A concert crowd holds on through a set and then moves together at the break, and again when the headliner finishes. A count that works on average can still produce a long line at 9:15 p.m.

What helps:

• Put the largest group of units where the crowd exits the stage area, with room for a queue that does not block the walkway.
• Add a group at the beer and wine garden. Its guests should not have to leave the fenced area and re-enter.
• Spread smaller groups by the food vendors, the entrance and the parking or shuttle stop, where people go as they arrive and before they drive home.
• Mark the groups on the festival map and with tall signs. People queue at the first units they see and miss empty ones 200 feet away.

Do you offer attendants?

On-site attendants are available for large events. Ask when you book.

At a large festival an attendant restocks paper, wipes down units, reports a tipped or blocked unit and keeps the accessible unit free for people who need it. Either way, assign a volunteer or a member of your cleaning crew to walk the units every hour and give them our number, (951) 517-3600.

What do performers, vendors and crew need?

Back-of-house units are a separate order from the public count. Staff who work a 12-hour day should not stand in the public line, and performers will not.

Crews building the site are employees on a work site, so the Cal/OSHA ratio of one toilet and one wash station per 20 workers is the benchmark for build days. See the Cal/OSHA guide.

How does overnight service work on a multi-day festival?

The planning charts assume nobody pumps the units during the event. On a second day, yesterday's count is already used up. Units have to be pumped, cleaned and restocked between days. FEMA's guidance calls for servicing on a 24-hour schedule, and Murrieta's event application requires daily service of portable toilets on multi-day events (Murrieta application).

The window is the gap between closing and reopening. In unincorporated Riverside County, temporary events may not operate between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m., or between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. in the residential, wine country and other zones the chapter lists (County Code Ch. 17.256, as adopted in Ordinance No. 348.4966). Service happens inside that gap, so plan for it:

1. Keep a truck lane to every group of units. City site plans already require 24-foot emergency access lanes. Our route can follow them if booths and fencing do not close them off overnight.
2. Name a night contact who can open gates and move barriers.
3. Keep units out of camping areas unless they are there for campers. The county requires overnight stays to have individually contained sewer waste removal systems.
4. Tell us the reopening time. Service must finish before gates open.

Our office hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

What is different about Lake Skinner, Lake Elsinore and wine country?

Lake Skinner. Lake Skinner Recreation Area, a county park at 37701 Warren Road in Winchester, hosts the Temecula Valley Balloon & Wine Festival, held June 20 to 22 in 2025 with concerts on more than one stage (Patch). Check the festival's own site for current dates. Events there are spread across open grass and dirt, far from the permanent restroom buildings. Dust, heat and distance are the planning problems. See our Winchester page.

Lake Elsinore lakefront. The city runs its free Live at the Lakefront summer concerts at Launch Pointe on Riverside Drive (City of Lake Elsinore). On the shoreline, keep units on firm ground above the sand and well back from the water. The city requires portable restrooms unless existing ones are shown to be sufficient, asks for 10% accessible units and wants applications 60 days ahead (Lake Elsinore application). More on our Lake Elsinore page.

Temecula Valley wine country. Wine country is unincorporated, so the county is the authority. Winery events are tied to each winery's own approval, which can set guest counts project by project. Winery service areas must be screened to limit noise and odour for neighbours (County Code Ch. 17.142). In practice: place units out of sight of the road and the tasting patio, on a firm pad a truck can reach without crossing vine rows. Many venues are on septic systems sized for normal days, which is the usual reason a winery orders units for a concert. See Temecula.

How far ahead should I apply for the permit?

Alcohol also needs a state ABC licence. Links to every application are in the event permit guide.

What does festival rental cost?

Event rentals start at $189 per unit. A festival quote covers unit numbers by type, the number of event days, each overnight service visit, and build and strike days. Delivery and pickup is a fee, with no fuel or environmental surcharges. See pricing.

Festival and concert FAQ

How many accessible units does a festival need? At least one in every group of units, and 5% of each group under the California Building Code (CBC §11B-213.2). Murrieta and Lake Elsinore ask for 10%. Details are on the ADA-accessible unit page.

Can you provide fencing and dumpsters? We arrange temporary fence panels through partners, and dumpsters come from our sister company, Victory Dumpsters. Check your event application for any trash service conditions.

Which areas do you serve? Temecula, Winchester, Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Menifee, Perris and Hemet, among others. See service areas or go back to all event rentals.

Get a festival quote

Call (951) 517-3600 or send the form with your dates, venue, peak attendance, hours, stage schedule and whether alcohol is served. We will reply with a unit plan by area and a full price.