Responder Base Camp Sanitation and Water

Scopein tent cities or trailer camps stood up in a parking lot, and OSHA's temporary labor camp standard, 29 CFR 1910.142, sets the fixtures, water, and sleeping space for them. This calculator applies every ratio at once: toilets 1 per 15 of each sex with a minimum of two in any shared facility, urinals 1 per 25 men in addition to the toilets, 1 handwash basin per 6, 1 showerhead per 10, 1 laundry tray per 30, 1 drinking fountain per 100 where water is under pressure, 35 gallons per person per day delivered at a peak of 2.5 times the average hourly rate, and 50 sq ft of sleeping floor per occupant. A restoration camp for 90 men and 30 women needs 8 toilets, 4 urinals, 20 basins, 12 showerheads, 4 laundry trays, and 2 fountains; 4,200 gallons a day at a 437.5 gal/h peak, 7.3 gpm; and 6,000 sq ft of sleeping floor. A 1,500 gallon water trailer refilled once a day does not meet it. The minimum, not the ratio, sets the small side of a camp: 100 men and 5 women need 7 plus 2 toilets, where dividing the whole camp by 15 gives 7. The distance rules are listed: a toilet room within 200 ft of every sleeping-room door, beds 36 in apart and 12 in off the floor. Whether the standard applies to a given camp is a regulatory question. It does not address siting, drainage, refuse, food service, or vector control, or size power, storage, or wastewater hauling. 29 CFR 1910.142, the state plan, and the local health department govern.

Formula or tabletoilets per sex = max(2, ceil(n_sex / 15)) for each sex housed; urinals = ceil(men / 25) or 2 ft of trough each; basins = ceil(total / 6); showerheads = ceil(total / 10); laundry trays = ceil(total / 30); fountains = ceil(total / 100) where water is under pressure; water = 35 gal x total per day at a peak of 2.5 x the average hourly rate; sleeping floor = 50 sq ft x total.

Source and edition29 CFR 1910.142, Temporary labor camps, paragraphs (b)(2), (b)(3), (c)(2), (c)(4), (d)(3), (d)(5), (d)(6), and (f)(1), read at law.cornell.edu on 2026-09-30 and reproduced as federal regulation. OSHA, the state plan, and the local health department govern.

Free accessThe Code of Federal Regulations is public domain; the camp ratios are restated from the Cornell LII copy.

What governsEstimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.

API field namesmen_count, women_count, pressure_water, toilets_men, toilets_women, toilets_total, urinals, handwash_basins, showerheads, laundry_trays, drinking_fountains, water_gal_per_day, average_gph, peak_gph, peak_gpm, sleeping_area_sqft

• Design population by sex the maximum of each sex the camp is designed to house at one time29 CFR 1910.142(d)(5)
• Peak water rate 2 1/2 times the average hourly demand of 35 gal per person per day29 CFR 1910.142(c)(2)
• Whether the standard applies a regulatory question for the camp; agency base-camp standards and state plans may be more stringent29 CFR 1910.142