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Portable restrooms in short supply during the total eclipse

Posted at 10:23 PM, Jul 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-17 11:20:03-04

The city of Weiser is set to be Idaho's top destination to catch a view of the total solar eclipse on August 21st. City leaders are planning a festival leading up to the big day and are estimating up to 70 thousand visitors.


"We're ranked as the number two spot in the nation and all that is based on our historic weather patterns so we are hoping for a sunny clear day that day, " said Patrick Nauman who is helping put on the Weiser Eclipse Festival.


Finding a hotel in Weiser during the eclipse is already out of the question for many, some of those reservations were made more than a year ago. But finding a place to sleep isn't the only necessity seeing a shortage. 


"Porta-Potties could be a huge issue," explained Nauman.


The demand for Porta-Potties has eclipsed the supply. The pros at PortaPros, a rental company in Nampa, say they've never seen anything like it. 


"We might be able to slide a couple more in but most of them are spoken for," said Kindra Butera of PortaPros.


They have more than a thousand in their inventory and the calls asking if any are still available keep coming in. The majority of their stock was reserved months ago. They've been getting calls from customers as far away as the Salt Lake City area but are turning down long distance requests. 


"We've had calls from like the Idaho-Montana border to see if we could deliver cause everybody is out kind of everywhere," explained Butera


At last check, Weiser has rented seventy portable restrooms for their eclipse festival, but they're still keeping their eyes open for more, even reaching out to resources in central Oregon. While they may be in short supply, there is always indoor plumbing.

"Every business in town that has a public restroom will have their doors open that to so that may be the longest line in town," said Nauman.