Construction started Thursday on a $239-million project to replace Yosemite National Park's aging wastewater treatment plant.
The El Portal Wastewater Treatment Plant, built 45 years ago, serves more than 4 million annual park visitors, hundreds of park employees and about 700 area residents. The plant processes up to 1 million gallons of wastewater each day and is the largest such facility in the National Park Service.
But Park Service officials say the system is outdated, deteriorating, difficult to repair, and doesn't provide enough capacity. The new treatment plant's more modern design includes advanced technologies, improved system redundancy, and upgraded automation controls.
“This project is essential to the continued protection of public health and the environment, and also to the future of visitor services and park operations in Yosemite,” Acting Park Superintendent Ray McPadden said in a news release. “Upgrading this facility allows us to better safeguard the wild and scenic Merced River, serve our community and guests, support park concession operations, and ensure the park remains resilient for the next 50 years.”
Construction is funded through the Great American Outdoors Act, signed into law in 2020 by President Donald Trump. The act authorized up to $1.6 billion each year for five years to address maintenance backlogs at national parks and other public lands. Further efforts under President Joe Biden also boosted park improvements. Recently, in Trump's second term, critics say cuts to Park Service funding and staff, as well as a shift toward other priorities such as drilling on public lands, could threaten future park projects.
The new treatment plant is scheduled to open in 2029.
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