Madison is No. 1 in public toilets; city parks leader glad not to be No. 2

Madison, the darling of top 10 lists everywhere, has a new distinction. According to the Public Toilet Index, the city is No. 1 in public toilets.

In the United States, there are an average of eight public toilets per 100,000 people, according to the index, a 2021 report by the British company QS Bathrooms Supplies.

Madison is the U.S. city with the most at 35 per 100,000, while Iceland is the country with the most: 56 per 100,000 people, according to the index. New York City has only four per 100,000.

Madison Parks Superintendent Eric Knepp said the ranking is another testament to Madison being a top place to live. "We have a great set of public services, parks included, but just in total, and we're glad to be recognized for it."

Knepp was unaware of the ranking or the index, reported on this week in The New York Times, but said he's proud to be able to support so many restrooms in city parks.

Providing public toilets can be a challenge and requires a lot of maintenance support, he said, but "they are an amenity that pretty well everyone who visits our parks uses."

When people talk about public restrooms, parks are one of the main focuses.

Knepp said when people go to a private business, it's an expectation that there will be a restroom for customers. Public facilities are similar. "If you want to allow folks to recreate and gather and enjoy being outside or at your facility, you're going to need those restroom facilities."

He said public washrooms are among the top amenities requested by the public to make city parks better. Madison residents want more public washrooms and want the washrooms in parks be open more, he said.

Ann Shea, spokesperson for the Madison Parks Division, said only a few park restrooms or portable restrooms are open year-round. Most park restrooms are open seasonally, usually around April 20, and this year should be open by April 22.

The city has a restroom webpage that will be updated as they begin to open.

"We're blessed with a lot of public restrooms in our parks, but we're blessed with even more parks than public restrooms," Knepp said.

The city has about 280 parks and not all have restrooms, Shea said, adding that at least 30 park restrooms are open daily during the summer season.

Knepp said a common request is for additional public restrooms in parks that don't have them, or for more in parks that do have them. "On top of that, of course, there's a desire to have more restrooms available at more times in the year, which is certainly a bigger challenge than even adding them."

He said restrooms in parks usually stay open until mid- to late October, or until "pipe-freezing season here in Wisconsin."

Parks buildings aren't heated and need to be winterized for the season, he said. Some have to be shut down earlier because they can't all be closed in one day.

When Madison's Central Park, now known as McPike Park, opened in the summer of 2014, a lot of attention was given to its $600,000 restroom building with its wavy green roof designed by nationally known environmental artist Lorna Jordan. The washroom was partially funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and its roof is said to mimic the impact of glaciers on Wisconsin's terrain.

"It's a very high-end design, I think is fair to say," Knepp said. "It is very architecturally unique and a challenge to build even, but it's a beautiful asset and it's been used hundreds of thousands of times now."

That washroom is on the same April-October schedule as most other parks restrooms, but there are city park restrooms that are open most of the year, such as at Elver Park because of skiing and skating there. The John Wall Family Pavilion at Tenney Park, where there is ice skating, is also open almost all year.

Knepp said he wasn't surprised by Madison's ranking because the city has invested in parks washrooms for decades. Having restrooms in community parks and gathering spaces is an amenity that people expect and desire, he said, "and promotes a lot of opportunities for people to gather and stay in the park longer."

He said the ranking brings to mind a bit of potty humor. "We're just glad to be No. 1 and not No. 2."