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Creek Health

Public Bathroom to Improve Creeks & Community

 

Downtown Prescott features multiple flowing creeks. However, the surface water quality of those creeks has been listed as “impaired” (polluted) for well over a decade. Miller Creek was targeted by local stakeholders for a water quality improvement project. Prescott Creeks brought together the Coalition for Compassion and Justice (CCJ), the City of Prescott, and the Butte Creek Restoration Council at Prescott College to install a publicly accessible bathroom adjacent to Miller Creek on Madison Avenue. Major funding for the project was secured from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality – Water Quality Improvement Grants Program (ADEQ) with matching contributions from each partner.

The precast concrete bathroom building, much like you’d find at a forest trailhead, was ordered as a complete unit and delivered to the project site by truck. It was placed and connected to sewer and water services on February 11th, 2019. “We’re very excited to actually have the building here,” indicated Michael Byrd, Executive Director for Prescott Creeks. “Two years of planning and coordination have led up to this point.” Once installed and officially opened later this winter, the bathroom will be available to trail users and the public.

CCJ ‘donated’ the property on which the publicly accessible bathroom sits and they will perform daily maintenance and monitoring of the bathroom. The City of Prescott covered permitting and impact fees for the project and is providing staff support for educational and outreach elements of the project. The Butte Creek Restoration Council is monitoring water quality in Miller and Butte Creeks. Water quality samples were collected before installation of the bathroom to establish baseline conditions. Additional samples will be collected after the bathroom is in place with the intent of documenting a measurable decrease in pollutants in the creek, specifically E. coli bacteria.

“Our reasons for partnering with Prescott Creeks starts with creek health and extends to community health,” stated Paul Mitchell, Executive Director for CCJ, when the project started. By providing a comfortable, accessible spot for the people to go to the bathroom, we should achieve cleaner water in our creeks.

Special thanks go out to each of our local subcontractors and their staff for helping get this bathroom built. Earth Resources Corporation conducted all excavation and pipeline installation, ETC, Inc. conducted special inspections of the subgrade compaction and materials, Cobb Electric took care of all power concerns, and Yavapai Mechanical assisted with the finer points of the plumbing connections.

Check out the 25 February article in the Daily Courier.

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