The Municipal Groover Cleaner Rears its Head, Part Two
As we first discovered at the last council meeting on December 3, the City of Salida has allocated $50,000 for a SCAT Machine in their 2014 budget, to clean groovers (portable toilets) used on overnight rafting trips.
I went to www.scatmachine.com to learn what I could about this $50,000 piece of equipment. The homepage states:
The SCAT Machine is a portable toilet dumping station designed for use at marinas, river system take-out points, and anywhere “Honey Pot” type waste disposal is practiced. It is ideal for implementing sanitation programs in natural disaster areas, undeveloped countries, and undeveloped communities.
I telephoned the SCAT Machine’s inventor and manufacturer, John Witzel, located in Frenchglen, Oregon. This was a half-hour conversation different from any other I’ve ever had, in that I was encouraged to use the words “crap” and “shit”. Mr. Witzel brings a new meaning to “Scatman”. His motto is “Gotta talk crap when you’re with us.”
When talking about a SCAT machine with its inventor and marketer, you have to expect some bathroom humor. So let’s get it over with. The SCAT Machine was originally marketed as “Sanitizing Containers with Alternate Technology”, although Mr. Witzel said that some refer to S.C.A.T. as ”Shit, Crap, and All That.”
I prefer SCAT, which is also appropriate and not so graphic.
For those who haven’t given up on this article having some sort of saving grace, my conversation with Mr. Witzel was not only unique but also very informative. The SCAT Machine was originally invented as a solution to the Carry Out Program — a program that requires that all users of our rivers and wildlands leave nothing behind — including human waste.
SCAT Machines are usually located in “take-out towns”, river towns where multi-day rafting trips conclude. Riggins, Idaho, for example, is a well-known take-out town for the Salmon River, and the Chevron station in Riggens maintains a SCAT Machine.
And yes, the SCAT Machine average cost, including installation, is around $50,000. Mr. Witzel explained that the machine is made of industrial grade stainless steel, with most parts made in the USA, and made to last, not to break down. Mr. Witzel stated that the cost is about the same as a Romtec Vault Toilet, commonly used at campgrounds.
The SCAT Machine is certainly innovative and environmentally friendly. But does the City of Salida need to purchase one?
As much as I enjoyed my conversation with John Witzel, and as excited as I was about this new-to-me technology, I’m left wondering if the City can justify spending $50,000 on a SCAT Machine. There are no SCAT Machines located in Colorado — that I have found — and I think that may be because other locations in other states such as Idaho and Arizona are more suited for long rafting trips.
As mentioned in Part One, the rafting community in Buena Vista does not have a municipal groover cleaner operation, much less a $50,000 SCAT Machine.
How many overnight rafting trips pass through Salida? How many groovers are manually cleaned at the Salida Wastewater Plant? How convenient is that location?
According to information I received from the City, during the current year of 2013 a total of 79 groovers were cleaned at $8 each, bringing in a total of $632. At that rate, it would take almost 80 years to recoup the $50,000 SCAT Machine cost. Salida is not a “take-out town”. We don’t have many potential users for a SCAT Machine.
“But what about the health hazard associated with city employees cleaning groovers?”
I can hear the City asking that question. Truth is, groover cleaning is not part of the job description for those employees, nor is it a stated purpose of the Wastewater Plant. It’s a voluntary service provided to the rafting community by our City. What other city asks its employees to manually clean portable toilets?
Many, if not most, groover cleaning operations are privately owned. For example, a rafting company in Durango collects the used groovers from the rafters, and then hires a Porta-Potty company to come out once a week and clean them.
But the Salida government seems to have the mentality that the government must subsidize and facilitate the recreation activities in our town. They buy land for mountain bikers. They contribute large amounts of tax dollars to sporting events. They heavily subsidize the Aquatic Center. They clean groovers.
It also seems that Salida has the affliction of wanting to “be first”. They want to be the first Colorado town with a Natural Resource Center. They want to be the first Colorado town with a SCAT Machine. But at what cost?
If my research has misled me, and if there truly is a need for a SCAT Machine in or near Chaffee County, shouldn’t the various government entities that govern the wilderness areas where rafting occurs be involved in financing the $50,000 SCAT Machine, and determining the best location for it?
Has the City of Salida, a designated Colorado Creative District, budgeted $50,000 to its Creative District and subsidized the artists that comprise the Creative District? No. Yet, the proposed $50,000 SCAT Machine is just that — a subsidy to the rafting community. The financial favoritism that the City administration and Council has demonstrated towards recreation is obvious.
In conclusion, let’s go back to the proposed location of the SCAT Machine — alongside the dump station and the potable water station across Cleora Road — on the Outlot in front of the new U.S. Forest building.
Since the NRC Subdivision Development Plan does not allow any structures on that Outlot, it seems to me that the City will have to find another location for the three stations. So I suppose I need to stop visualizing the line of RV’s and rafting buses towing trailers piled with rafts, waiting to use the stations, and blocking the view and congesting the parking lot of the Forest Service building.
And I hope that the new council will think hard about a City expenditure of $50,000 for a SCAT Machine.
