{"id":1039263,"date":"2026-09-02T17:28:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039263\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:28:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:28:46","slug":"grand-canyons-washed-out-pipeline-also-causes-economic-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1039263\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Canyon’s washed-out pipeline also causes economic damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deadly flooding<\/a> at the Grand Canyon is damaging the area\u2019s economy, with a washed-out pipeline severing the South Rim\u2019s water supply and shutting down lodging at the popular tourist vista for an indefinite period.<\/p>\n

The national park remained open Tuesday but tourists who planned to stay overnight \u2014 many traveling long distances for reservations from a year or more ago \u2014 have had to scramble to find rooms elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The flooding that killed two people and left a third missing washed out an already decrepit pipeline<\/a> spanning the canyon that supplied every shower, faucet and spigot at the South Rim.<\/p>\n

Now, hundreds of rooms are no longer available due to insufficient water, thwarting plans for thousands of tourists staying at the canyon or headed that way in the days ahead. <\/p>\n

Michelle Allen, of Olathe, Kansas, got word Sunday evening she\u2019d need to check out the next morning after just one night into a five-night stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to hurry up and make accommodations somewhere else,\u201d Allen said. \u201cLuckily we were able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncertainty ahead for residents, tourists and service workers<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, it\u2019s uncertain how long the lodging would be closed. Experts warn that the economic toll of such closures would affect not only Northern Arizona but southern Nevada.<\/p>\n

Many who visit the Grand Canyon also visit Las Vegas, said Christine Vogt, a consultant on sustainable tourism and outdoor recreation in the Western U.S. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be catastrophic,\u201d Vogt said, adding that the water shut-off could last weeks. <\/p>\n

Lodges and outfitters preparing for bigger crowds this upcoming Labor Day weekend \u2014 the last summer push before the warmer peak season ends \u2014 are forced to scale back. <\/p>\n

An extended lodging shutdown could also affect hundreds of service jobs in and around the national park and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in local revenue, said Megha Budruk, an Arizona State University associate professor who studies communities near public lands.<\/p>\n

The Grand Canyon weathered a fire last year, rain this year<\/p>\n

This is the latest economic blow to the region after a wildfire last summer destroyed a historic lodge at the Grand Canyon\u2019s less busy but lusher North Rim, putting all rooms and cabins on that side of the canyon out of commission.<\/p>\n

Grand Canyon was the fourth-most visited national park in 2025, behind Great Smoky Mountains, Zion and Yellowstone. Summer is the park\u2019s busiest time, although tourist visits typically dip under 500,000 in September. After the North Rim fire last year, visitation was just 372,000 for the month.<\/p>\n

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In 2024, the park drew almost $1 billion a year in spending by close to 5 million tourists visiting the otherwise remote Northern Arizona region, according to the National Park Service.<\/p>\n

That spending further supported almost 9,000 jobs, which in turn generated $400 million in labor income and $1.1 billion in economic output in nearby communities, according to the park service.<\/p>\n

Besides the shuttered Phantom Ranch lodge and campground at the canyon bottom directly affected by the floods, closed South Rim accommodations included El Tovar Hotel, Bright Angel Lodge, Maswik Lodge and the Yavapai Lodge and Trailer Village, park officials said.<\/p>\n

South Rim campgrounds remained open but without spigots. Campground bathroom faucets would remain operational, but campfires were banned since less water would be available to fight a wildfire.<\/p>\n

An already dicey pipeline situation<\/p>\n

Restaurants and other food and beverage services at the South Rim remain open. But only so much water will be available from tanks that were supplied by the cross-canyon pipe.<\/p>\n

In all, some 1,600 year-round residents and the South Rim\u2019s millions of annual tourists rely on the 12.5-mile (20-kilometer) pipe built down, across and up the sheer canyon walls in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Grit in the water has scoured the aluminum pipe, weakening it from the inside and causing dozens of failures in recent years. A more than $200 million repair project was well underway before the flooding that had damaged about 40% of the pipeline.<\/a><\/p>\n

Conservation will be at least part of the plan to keep water flowing from tanks that still have weeks\u2019 worth of water in them. After that, how the tanks might be refilled is an open question.<\/p>\n

Park officials planned a public meeting Wednesday at the canyon to provide updates on the water situation. <\/p>\n

In the meantime, the priorities will be reporting leaks, using reclaimed water for nondrinking uses, running dishwashers and washing machines only if they\u2019re full or in eco mode, Andy Stiles, South Rim general manager for Xanterra Travel Collection, said by email.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd asking guests and staff to be mindful of things like handwashing length and running water,\u201d Stiles said. \u201cActions like these across the South Rim are what\u2019s helping the available water reserves go as far as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people move south to unaffected town outside the park<\/p>\n

Unaffected was Tusayan, a tourism hub just outside the park boundary 15 minutes from the South Rim. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just heartbroken about what has happened at Phantom Ranch,\u201d Tusayan Mayor Clarinda Vail said, adding: \u201cWe are open. Full services in Tusayan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community with 1,200 lodging rooms doesn\u2019t rely on the pipeline but uses well water. Besides hotels and camping, Tusayan hosts restaurants and businesses that offer tours of the canyon by air and ground. <\/p>\n

At Grand Canyon Camper Village in Tusayan, business had been \u201coddly slow\u201d for this time of year, but now general manager Joan Marquez is seeing a surge in business at showers and laundry rooms. Both are available for the general public as well as people staying at the campground.<\/p>\n

South Rim lodging companies such as Delaware North, which runs the 350-room Yavapai Lodge, promised to get as many customers rebooked in Tusayan as they could.<\/p>\n

But the community\u2019s five main hotels were filling up quickly. Grand Canyon Plaza Hotel is usually the last in town to sell out but was seeing a surge in South Rim lodgers seeking rooms, front desk supervisor Steven Ayres said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have more coming, I guarantee you,\u201d Ayres said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado, and Yu from Phoenix. Associated Press journalist Ty ONeil contributed to this report from Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deadly flooding at the Grand Canyon is damaging the area\u2019s economy, with a washed-out pipeline severing the South…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1039264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[415771,415772,5643,11029,64,415773,10109,10106,746,57,415770,415774,29480,23754,617,11290,159,415769,30628,61,67,132,68,436,424],"class_list":["post-1039263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-andy-stiles","tag-angel-lodge","tag-arizona","tag-az-state-wire","tag-business","tag-christine-vogt","tag-climate","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-environment","tag-general-news","tag-joan-marquez","tag-michelle-allen","tag-national-parks","tag-natural-disasters","tag-nevada","tag-nv-state-wire","tag-science","tag-steven-ayres","tag-travel-and-tourism","tag-u-s-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-ut-state-wire","tag-utah"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117202629899122954","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1039264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}