How fast can you get sanitation set up after an emergency?
Speed matters most in the first 24 hours. Pleasanton Porta Pros treats disaster calls as priority dispatch, ahead of routine porta potty rental bookings, because a shelter or command post without a toilet becomes a health problem fast. Our emergency porta potty rental service pulls from standard units already staged nearby, each with a 60 to 70 gallon holding tank, so we're not building a delivery from scratch. If a driveway or lot is soft or blocked, tell us up front. A roll-off or restroom trailer delivery needs about 60 feet of straight clearance behind the truck, and disaster sites often have debris, downed limbs, or parked emergency vehicles in the way. We'll work around it, but the more warning we get about access, the faster the truck actually gets there. For multi-day events like a wildfire evacuation center, we can also bring in a restroom trailer rental or a handwashing station rental to cover higher headcounts than a handful of standalone units can handle. Cities as close as Dublin, 5.2 miles north of Pleasanton, and Sunol, 7.3 miles south, fall inside our normal response radius, so a countywide emergency doesn't mean waiting on a truck from across the Bay.
What kind of sanitation do shelters and relief sites actually need?
A relief site is not a construction job, but the sizing logic still applies. OSHA 1926.51(c) sets a baseline of 1 toilet for every 20 people on a jobsite, and shelter operators use that same ratio as a starting point when nobody has published shelter-specific numbers. If you're staffing a relief operation with paid crews or volunteers working shifts, that count applies to them directly, and our how many porta potties do I need guide walks through the math for a given headcount. Displaced residents sleeping on cots need more than a toilet. OSHA 1926.51(a)(1) requires an adequate supply of potable water at any place of employment, which is why we pair units with a portable sink or trough station rather than dropping a toilet alone. Under 29 CFR 1910.141(d)(2), handwashing stations need actual soap and towels or a hand-drying device; hand sanitizer alone doesn't satisfy that standard, so our portable sink rental stock comes stocked, not empty. For sites serving elderly or mobility-impaired residents, ADA Standards section 213.2 requires at least one accessible unit in any cluster, and never fewer than one no matter how small the cluster is. Our ADA accessible porta potty units meet the 36 inch clear route and 32 inch door opening called for elsewhere in the ADA standards, and they matter more, not less, during an evacuation.
Do you charge more for emergency or after-hours deployment?
Rush jobs cost more than a routine week-out booking, and we won't pretend otherwise. A standard unit runs 100 to 350 dollars a day depending on quantity and urgency, and a same-day or overnight emergency delivery typically lands toward the top of that band rather than the bottom. Weekend deployments, which cover most disaster calls since storms and evacuations don't wait for a weekday, run in a similar range to our standard weekend rate. Here's how the standard unit pricing breaks down by term, for planning a longer relief operation:
| Term | Typical Price |
|---|---|
| Day | $150 |
| Weekend | $250 |
| Week | $200 |
| Month | $200 |
A delivery fee applies on top of the unit rate, and that fee is where the "emergency" premium usually shows up, since a rushed same-day trip costs more to route than a scheduled one. If your relief operation runs past a few days, ask about switching to a weekly or monthly rate instead of daily, since the per-day cost drops once you're past the first week. For a fuller breakdown by scenario, our porta potty rental cost and porta potty rental per day pages cover the standard, non-emergency version of this same math. Storm damage often knocks out septic systems too, and if a tank backs up during flooding we run emergency septic service alongside the toilet drop so the property isn't dealing with two failures separately. Sites needing secure equipment storage during a multi-week recovery can also add a storage container rental or a mobile office trailer rental for command staff.
How many toilets does a shelter need for 100 people?
Using the OSHA 1926.51(c) ratio of 1 per 20 people as a planning baseline, 100 people points to roughly 5 units. Add one accessible unit per ADA Standards 213.2 regardless of count. Our how many porta potties do I need guide covers adjustments for round-the-clock shelter use versus a daytime jobsite.
Can you deliver to a site with no power or water?
Yes. Standard units need neither. If you need lighting for a nighttime relief operation, ask about a light tower rental, and a temporary power pole can serve a command tent or medical station running equipment.
What if the site is flooded or the ground is unstable?
Tell us before the truck rolls. A roll-off or trailer delivery needs about 60 feet of clear straight approach, and standing water or soft ground can force us to place units farther from the entrance than planned. We'll scout options by phone first.
Do you provide handwashing separate from the toilets?
Yes, and it's often the bigger need at a shelter. Our hand sanitizer station rental and handwashing station rental options meet the soap-and-towel standard under 29 CFR 1910.141(d)(2), which sanitizer alone does not satisfy.
How do we request emergency service after hours?
Call our contact line directly rather than submitting the standard request a quote form, since disaster calls get routed to dispatch immediately. Have your site address and rough headcount ready.
Next step
Get a delivery date
Tell us the address, the dates and the headcount. We size the order and confirm the route.