Floating bathroom gamble deals royal flush

The Brownsville Marina’s floating bathroom has more amenities than most people know.

Called the “Waterloo,” it’s equipped with three unisex restrooms each with a toilet and shower as well as a pump-out facility that enables boat owners to pump out their sanitary tanks.

“We are trying to keep pollution in the Puget Sound to a minimum,” said Jerry Rowland, Port of Brownsville harbor master. “We are encouraging boat owners to use this facility.”

Instead of dumping their wastewater in the open sea, boaters simply pull right up to the Waterloo, take the hose, connect it to their sanitary tank and begin pumping. There is no fee for marina visitors to use the bathrooms or the pump-out facility and use of the Waterlooo is included in the 310 tenants’ moorage fees. Plus, one of the bathrooms, along with its shower, is ADA accessible.

“The main purpose (of this facility) is to provide bathroom facilities for the tenants,” Rowland said, noting its never closed to the 31 live-aboard boats.

The Port of Brownsville Waterloo was the first built by National Clean Water Systems of Camano Island and the first of its kind in Kitsap County. The construction of the project took approximately six months. Port officials said they picked up 25 percent of the tab, with the remainder coming from a state grant. They declined to say how much the total cost was, but indicated it was far below the market price.

It’s been popular with users in its first year with 106,641 gallons of waste pumped into a nearby sewer line.

Now the port is planning an additional Waterloo on the eastern breakwater to serve larger boats unable to access the current facility, especially during low tide. Funded in the same way as the first one, the new Waterloo will have a toilet, shower and pump-out station. Construction starts on that project in August.

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