Pipe across Grand Canyon to be replaced
Grand Canyon National Park officials plan to replace much of the decadesold, problem-plagued pipeline that crosses the canyon to supply water to hotels, campgrounds and other facilities on the popular South Rim.
Crews regularly have to descend into the northern Arizona canyon by trail or helicopter to fix costly breaks to the 6-inch aluminum pipe from rockslides, with the park periodically imposing water conservation measures or even temporarily restricting visitor services until repairs are complete.
The Grand Canyon, which received nearly 6 million visitors in 2016, is one of the most visited U.S. national parks.
Preliminary plans call for ferrying pipe pieces and equipment by helicopter into the canyon to replace miles of pipeline. The pipeline extends from springs located partway up the North Rim, down to and across the Colorado River in the canyon bottom and up to a pump station partway up the South Rim.
The National Park Service is seeking public comment on several plans to replace the pipe before reviewing how the plans could impact the environment. Officials are considering replacing the entire 12.5-mile (20.12 -kilometer) pipeline serving the South Rim or just replacing about one-third of it.
According to park officials, work on the new pipeline would start in early 2020, take three to four years to complete and cost $75 million to $124 million.
The current pipeline was constructed in the 1960s and park spokesman Jeffrey Olson said it has already outlasted its designed 40 years of use.
“It’s probably the largest deferred maintenance project in the whole Park Service,” Olson said.
There have been more than 80 pipeline breaks since 2010 and each break costs an average of $25,000 to fix.
Repairs on a major break last winter cost $1.5 million and took weeks.