Philadelphia Portable Toilet & Holding Tank Permit Guide

The city's rule is simple: if you're making portable toilets available at a public event, you must apply for the permit. Festivals, street fairs, races, public concerts and community events on public or private land open to the public all fall under it.

The city's guidance on outdoor special events, published by L&I, lists the Health Department's portable toilet permit for portable restroom facilities installed more than four days or including more than 15 units. A small one-day event may sit under that line, but the Health Department's own page says public events need the permit, so the safest course is to ask the Health Department about your event when you plan it.

A private event on private property, like a wedding or a party at home, and units on a construction site for the crew are not public events and don't need this permit.

The city says that if you want a storage or holding tank for sewage waste on your property, you must apply for a permit. That covers the most common setup on Philadelphia job sites before the sewer connection is in: an office or sales trailer whose toilet and sink drain into a sealed tank that's pumped on a schedule. See Office Trailer Holding Tank Rental for how those systems work.

The application is short. Have this information ready, and ask your rental company for the details about the units or the tank.

The city lists a fee of $50 per location for a portable toilet permit and $100 per location for a holding tank permit. Payment is by money order made out to the Department of Public Health – EHS, and the application notes that personal, business and cashier's checks aren't accepted. Fees can change, so check the city's current application before you send it.

The city says it takes about 10 to 14 days to receive the permit, and it has to be kept on site and available on request. Count back from the event date or the trailer's delivery date and file well before that window.

The permit comes with a service requirement: a portable chemical toilet in a residential area has to be serviced at least every 48 hours. For a multi-day festival on a neighborhood street, that means a service visit at least every other day, built into the rental from the start. Our event quotes include the service schedule so it matches the permit.

The restroom permit is one piece. An event on a city street, a closed block or other city property goes through the Office of Special Events' special event permit, and its site plan shows where the restrooms stand. An event in a city park goes through Parks & Recreation. Residential block parties use the Streets Department's block party application; see the Philadelphia Block Party Guide.

Food vendors each go through the Health Department's special event food review, which expects hand washing at every booth that handles food. Events with expected attendance over 2,000 need Fire Department EMS coverage under the special event application. And at any public event, the ADA Standards call for accessible restrooms: at least 5% of each cluster, at least one per cluster. See ADA Porta Potty Rental.

Most of the trouble with event permits comes from doing them in the wrong order. This sequence works for most Philadelphia events.

The permit is about where the units go and how they're serviced, so the plan for the units and the plan for the permit are really the same plan. Before the application goes in, settle three things: how many units, where each cluster stands, and who services them and when. A layout that shows a cluster of standard units with an accessible unit in it, a hand wash station beside the food and a path the service truck can reach is a layout that's easy to approve.

Count the units from the crowd and the hours. A short daytime event needs far fewer than an all-day festival with drinks, and every separate cluster needs its own accessible unit under the ADA Standards. Our guide to how many porta potties you need has the tables, and we'll check the count against the layout when we quote it.

Most delays with a portable toilet permit come from the same few mistakes. Waiting too long is the first one: with a 10 to 14 day processing window, an application filed the week of the event is already late. Missing details are the second: an application without a clear location, dates and a service plan comes back with questions. The third is planning the units last, after the vendors, the stage and the tents have taken all the good spots, leaving the restrooms at the far end of a field where nobody can find them and the truck can't reach them.

Start the restroom plan when the site plan starts, file the permit as early as the event's other approvals allow, and give us the layout when you ask for a quote. We'll tell you if anything on it will cause a problem before the city does.