Our Work | The Project for Sanitation Justice

Public Restrooms Webmap

The Project for Sanitation Justice began in 2020 with a simple goal: to locate and map all public restroom facilities across San Diego County.

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San Diego State University WaSH Report

The Project for Sanitation Justice (PSJ) WaSH report is the first of its kind to provide sanitation solutions for unsheltered people. Click the button below to view a preliminary draft of the SDSU PSJ WaSH report.

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Award-Winning Storymap

PSJ’s lead student mapper, Adriana Rios, won the prestigious 2023 Award in Communication in the Spatial Thinking Student Competition from Esri and the International Statistics Institute for her work mapping public restroom availability near transit in San Diego.

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Nicolas' Acceptance to USC

PSJ’s Social Media Director, Nicolas Gutierrez III, graduated from SDSU with his Master’s degree in Criminology & Criminal Justice in 2023, and began his PhD in Sociology at the University of Southern California.

MWC Dignity Defender Award

In October 2023, PSJ Director Dr Megan Welsh Carroll received the inaugural Dignity Defender of the Year Award from Think Dignity. She shares the award with Judy Vaughs of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest.

Our Approach

Community-Partnered Action Research.

Since its founding in 2020, PSJ has worked closely with grassroots nonprofit Think Dignity to conduct research to drive action towards more just and equitable decision-making around public restrooms in San Diego County. We also partner with Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest to put our data into action, as public restroom access is also a reproductive justice issue.

Our Current Work

Catalina Torres presenting her research at SRS

Understanding community views about public restrooms PSJ Faculty Mentors Drs. Jennifer Felner and Jerel Calzo are leading a public health communication project to understand when and how to effectively communicate with the general public about WaSH resources, especially public restrooms.

Public Restroom Mapping and Assessment. Drs Madi Swayne and WC lead efforts to map where public restrooms are across San Diego County. In 2024, we will launch a new citizen science project to include members of the community in our efforts to gather data regarding where restrooms are and what’s happening within and around them.

Envisioning what the future of WaSH access should look like for unhoused Californians PSJ Director Dr Megan Welsh Carroll is leading a statewide initiative to inform Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) resource allocation for unhoused Californians.

Current and Past Funding

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Office of Health Equity. What should the future of WaSH access and infrastructure look like for unhoused Californians? (PI: Welsh Carroll; Co-PIs: Calzo, Felner, Swayne, Mladenov, Verbyla), 2023-2024
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Missing the main load? Quantifying marine debris loadings from storm drain and river margin sources in the San Diego River. (PI: McMillan; Co-PIs: Kinoshita, Mladenova, Davani, Welsh Carroll), 2021-2024
SDSU Seed Grant Program. Developing and pilot-testing a smartphone application to increase public restroom access in San Diego County. (PI: Swayne, Co-PI: Welsh Carroll), 2023-2024
SDSU Seed Grant Program. Leveraging Mixed Methods Research and Health Communication Strategies to Address Community Opposition to Equitable Public Bathroom Access in San Diego. (PI: Felner; Co-PIs: Calzo, Welsh), 2022-2024.
SDSU Rapid Response Grant Program. Mobilizing for Sanitation Justice and Health Equity in San Diego. (PI: Welsh; Co-PIs: Felner, Swayne, community partner: Think Dignity), 2021.