DENVER (KDVR) — FOX31 has learned about a problem with bathrooms and portable restrooms at Denver city parks.

Photos shared to FOX31 from the city, capture part of the reason restrooms are solely open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily.

Officials with the parks department said over the last month, its lost 10 portable toilets to vandalism. It has also had damage to permanent restrooms on an ongoing basis. This year all the copper tubing was stolen out of the Ruby Hill restroom. The toilets in the restroom on the Diagonal at Washington Park have been blown up four times over the last 16 months, including the first week of July this year. 

“This is a very nice park, a very nice community, so I don’t know why somebody would come over here and blow these bathrooms up,” Washington Park goer Trey Blash said. 

The city shared the following additional statements with FOX31:

We try our best to manage for this, but it is incredibly hard to respond to the on-going damage to our public facilities.

Due to ADA compliance requirements and current staffing shortages, we are prioritizing the opening and operating hours of plumbed restrooms to support youth programming, youth athletics and permitting.  DPR will open functional plumbed restrooms and they will be accessible between the hours of 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., 7-days a week.  We will not be keeping restrooms open longer hours due to staffing shortages and the potential for damage and vandalism to plumbed restrooms across the parks system. 

At this time, out of the 30 plumbed restrooms, 13 of those are closed to vandalism and theft of plumbing and piping in the restrooms. To address the closure of the plumbed restrooms, we have placed an ADA portable restroom at these sites to provide service when the restrooms are closed.

FOX31 reached out to the Denver Police Department about the situation and received this statement:

The Denver Police Department works in conjunction with the Denver Parks and Recreation Department to monitor situations that occur within the park. It is unfortunate that these types of vandalism incidents occur. Denver Police officers do patrol the areas, but also rely on these partnerships and the rangers who work the parks to help monitor and prevent these types of crimes. We encourage anyone who witnesses an event like these you mention, to call Denver Police so everyone can enjoy the beautiful Denver Parks.

FOX31 will continue to dig into the situation and follow up on what the city and police are doing to hinder these incidents.