Community Environment Government

State Parks flushes Cutts Island floating toilet project

Washington State Parks has scrapped its plan to anchor a floating toilet off Cutts Island.

The department announced in April 2022 it received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Clean Vessel Act program for the first floating restroom in Puget Sound.

Washington administers the federal funds through a State Parks grant program. It awards grants to state and local jurisdictions, marinas, tribes and nonprofits to build, renovate, operate and maintain pumpouts, toilet dump stations, floating restrooms and pumpout boats used by boaters. They reimburse up to 75% of costs.

Cutts Island is reachable only by boat. State Parks photo

In the Cutts Island case, State Parks awarded the grant to itself. It would have covered 63% of the estimated $479,000 price tag.

State Parks told Gig Harbor Now this month the project “is not going forward at this time.”

Too many obstacles

The floating toilet ran into several obstacles, said spokesperson Meryl Lassen.

A feasibility study and engineering report found tides, environment and accessibility for maintenance would prove challenging at the location offshore of Kopachuck State Park, she said.

The grant stipulated no construction could begin until all permits and approvals were obtained. That process that might have taken longer than the five-year duration of the grant, which can’t be extended.

By the time the funding was canceled in March 2025, the costs would have increased. The grant wouldn’t have covered even half of the work.

Cutts Island lies a half mile away from Kopachuck State park and is a popular destination of paddlers.

If State Parks were to pursue the project in the future, it would need to reapply. It has no immediate plans to do so, Lassen said.

Cutts Island Marine State Park, commonly called Deadman’s Island, is a highly used 2-acre public recreation area a half mile from Kopachuck State Park in Carr Inlet. It is for day use only and reachable only by boat.

Visitors don’t always pack it out

There is no power, water, garbage or sanitary service. What visitors pack in, they are asked to pack back out, including garbage and human waste. They don’t always do so, said Rob Sendak, boating programs manager with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, for a story announcing the project three years ago. Parks crews get stuck with cleaning up the mess. That made Cutts Island among a handful of prime candidates for a floating restroom, he said.

Oregon State Parks provides floating restrooms in about two dozen of its waterways and California State Parks offers 37 on nine lakes. Each anchored unit has a toilet room on each end of a 24-foot-long aluminum deck. The push of a button pumps a half gallon of fresh water from a 1,000-gallon tank through the toilet, swooshing the waste into a 1,000-gallon sewage storage tank. When the holding tank is full, the floating head is towed to shore to be pumped out or emptied in place by a vessel. The waste is transported to a treatment facility. Pierce County had committed to help maintain the Cutts Island restroom after it was in place.

Cutts Island is locally known as Deadman’s Island. State Parks photo

The floating toilet would’ve helped boaters comply with the Puget Sound No Discharge Zone Law that has been in effect since 2018. Within the zone, boats can’t release sewage, whether treated or not.

Other options

The Clean Vessel Act Grant Program also pays for operation and maintenance of more than 100 pumpout and dump station facilities across the state. There are three pumpout stations locally, all in Gig Harbor proper — at Arabella’s Landing, Jerisich  Dock and Maritime Pier.

Pierce County, Washington State Parks, the city of Gig Harbor, the Alliance for a Healthy South Sound, the Recreational Boating Association of Washington and Minterbrook Oyster Farm also collaborate to bring a mobile pumpout service directly to South Puget Sound boaters during the summers. The grant-funded program keeps about 10,000 gallons of sewage out of the water each year, according to Pierce County.

The mobile pumpout vessel serves docking facilities, anchorages and yacht club outstations, giving recreational boaters a convenient way to dispose sewage from their sanitary waste tanks right where they are.