Visitors who were taking a dream vacation to the Grand Canyon were suddenly turned away from their hotels inside the park this week after the main water pipeline that delivers water to Grand Canyon National Park failed.
There were a series of breaks that led to the failure, officials said, and all hotels inside the park that rely on the pipeline for water suddenly had to shut down — right at one of the busiest times of the year for tourism.
As a result of the break, there will be water restrictions in place for the duration of the Labor Day weekend. That’s a time when many of the park’s hotels run at full capacity, or at least close to it.
The pipeline has frequently failed in the past, but this outcome is certainly unprecedented.
There have been many challenges that Grand Canyon National Park has faced with the water supply since early July.
On Thursday, officials said that no water was being pumped to either the north or south rims of the Grand Canyon.
The Associated Press spoke with Iowa resident Heidi Zahner Younts via Facebook messenger about the situation this week. Younts posted on the Facebook page of the park that she planned “the trip of a lifetime” with her daughter for the upcoming weekend, and was very sad that they now couldn’t take it.
Luckily, she told the AP that they were able to find another hotel nearby, outside of the park, which had running water. She added that she was hopeful the restrictions on water might result in “less traffic and people” inside the park.
The Transcanyon Waterline, which runs 12.5 miles, was built back in the 1960s. It transports potable water for various facilities on the inner canyon and on the South Rim.
But, officials say that the pipeline has far exceeded what its expected lifespan is.
In just the last 14 years, the pipeline has experienced more than 85 major breaks, all of which disrupted the supply of water to the region. None of those breaks, though, forced a “Stage 4” water restriction before four recent breaks that happened.
Under the “Stage 4” restrictions, no one will be able to stay overnight at any of the park’s hotels beginning Thursday. Those hotels include the Phantom Ranch, Maswik Lodge, Bright Angel Lodge and El Tovar.
Things were still operating as normal Wednesday night, as many of the hotel’s restaurants were still serving people food, and cars were filling up the parking lots along the South Rim.
The park is still going to be open during the daytime. Hotels that are located just outside the park, in a town called Tusayan, Arizona, won’t be impacted by the water restrictions at all.
The National Park Service began a rehabilitation project of the pipeline recently that will take through 2027 to complete. The project is estimated to cost $208 million, and will provide upgrades to the system.
