The advisory committee of the Birch Bay Watershed and Aquatic Resource Management (BBWARM) district has announced it will not be providing funding for public restrooms in the Birch Bay area.

BBWARM advisory committee member and Whatcom County stormwater program specialist Ingrid Enschede sent a letter to Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce president Jon Gargett saying funding public restrooms is not in the purview of the BBWARM district. Enschede maintains that funding public restrooms in Birch Bay is not a stormwater or water quality issue, which is what the BBWARM district was created to address. The BBWARM collects a certain amount of tax money from Birch Bay area residents for use in dealing with stormwater and water quality issues in the Birch Bay watershed.

Gargett most recently voiced the public restrooms concern to Enschede in a letter sent on November 14. Enschede wrote that she brought the issue up the BBWARM advisory committee’s November 16 meeting at which the committee members came to the conclusion that it’s not BBWARM’s responsibility to fund public restrooms in Birch Bay.

Click here to read Enschede’s letter to Gargett. I originally learned about this letter on Birch Bay Buzz, the blog of the Birch Bay Chamber of Commerce. I will attempt to gather some more information and make this into a fuller story.