Key Successes:
- Increased potty numbers in 2011
- Increased sanitizer numbers
- Peak volume earlier, overall volume higher
- If it wasn’t in your body, don’t put it in the potty!
In 2011 we increased the overall number of potties by 120 units or around 10% in order to insure good quality of service in a year anticipated to see our highest population yet. Thanks to these additional units and solid logistical strategizing by our vendor United Site Services, 2011 was a smooth year on the sanitation front. We also doubled the number of hand sanitizer dispensers, which worked tremendously and kept the banks from running out of sanitizer between servicing. The participant feedback from this year has mostly been positive and the areas that did receive negative comments are sites that we are aware of and trying to address. Specifically we’re working to address the banks along 2:00 and 10:00—they get hit hardest at night when it is not safe to drive pumper trucks, much less through crowds of people.
High volume servicing started very early this year with Black Rock City producing levels of effluent usually seen much later in the week. There are a lot of folks out early building the city and erecting amazing art projects and camps but the early spike is most certainly due to a larger number of people hitting BRC much earlier in the week. The volume stayed high throughout the week and when everything was said and done, Burners produced more than 500,000 gallons of effluent. That is a LOT of sh%t and not surprisingly it is up from last year.
Considering the increased volume, trash in potties was not as much of an issue as it could have been. Thank you to everyone who remembered that “if it doesn’t come out of your body, don’t put it in the potty” (yeah, yeah, single-ply toilet paper is ok too but that is IT!! Seriously). Special thanks also to the dedicated team of volunteers who make it their mission to spread the word on proper potty etiquette and to all the camps that adopted their local bank!
Submitted by,
Matt Morgan