Drinking Water Advisory Issued At Grand Canyon National Park

October 31, 2014

Usually when you hear "don't drink the water" advisories, a third-world country comes to mind. In this case, it's for hikers in the backcountry of Grand Canyon National Park.

The park on Friday issued a drinking water advisory for areas along the North Kaibab Trail, Manzanita Rest Area (Roaring Springs), and the Cottonwood Campground.

"Because of the detection of fecal indicators (E. coli), day hikers and backpackers should be self-sufficient and be prepared to carry or treat all drinking water," a park release said. "The rest of the park including South Rim Village, Desert View, Indian Garden, Phantom Ranch and North Rim Developed Area is not affected by this advisory and water is safe to drink."

The release did not cite a source for the contamination. But it said water at Roaring Springs and Cottonwood should be treated by boiling or filtering it.

Visitors and residents within South Rim Village, North Rim Developed Area, Desert View, Indian Garden and Phantom Ranch are not affected by the drinking water advisory, the park said. Water available at these locations has been deemed safe for all human and animal consumption. Potable water at Grand Canyon is treated at multiple locations before being distributed for consumption. Grand Canyon treats all potable water beyond State of Arizona and EPA standards for public consumption.

The advisory is precautionary and is not expected to last more than 48 hours. It will remain in effect until the National Park Service and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality are confident there is no longer a public health concern. We will provide the next update on Saturday, November 1, 2014.

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Comments

Permalink Submitted by Gary Wilson on October 31, 2014 - 7:41pm.

I'm not suprised. I remember back when I did one of the mule trails to complete the experience of hiking all the kaibab and bright angel trails, I was caught in a light spring drizzle. The entire trail turned into a sewer pit in a matter of an hour due to all the mule crap being carried out by the runoff. Diluted mule dropping runoff was literally running around my boots. Never again will I ever hike one of those mule trails. The amount of mules they take up and down those trails to support the demand is haphazardly insane.

Permalink Submitted by trailadvocate on November 1, 2014 - 2:34pm.

I guess assuming you are greenie, Gary, one would be incorrect. Strongly believe you won't be contracting Ebola from the green you mentioned unlike the brown or other colors left by the 200,000 or so of your own specie that share the two corridor trails with a very few mules. As documented the massive influx of one day Rim to Rimers (and sometimes Rim to Rim to Rimers) the evidence of human defecation along the North Kaibab Trail (where the water warning is in effect) should be considered key to the source of coliform bacteria. A little narrowminded, elitest always leaves a door open for rebutal. Some thanks for the mules service to so many would be appreciated but not expected.

Permalink Submitted by ecbuck on October 31, 2014 - 7:59pm.

A funny memory for me. Years ago - in the 90s - I went to the Grand Canyon with family and friends. We stayed at a faciity in the park - which one escapes me. As we entered the cabins there were little signs on the sinks. "Don't drink the water". This was the one place on a two week trip that our friend had booked the reservation. We still give him grief when we get together.

Permalink Submitted by trailadvocate on November 1, 2014 - 1:48pm.

Those signs are also placed over the urinals, the untreated irrigation water and the treatment plant effluent for those used to urban living (not refering to you EC:).

Permalink Submitted by Gary Wilson on November 1, 2014 - 3:10pm.

Trailadvocate, can you translate your gibberish into english? I'm sure there are a few personal attacks towards me, as I usually expect from you, but I can't decipher it.

Regardless, humans are supposed to bury their waste and not take a crap anywhere near a stream. That's common backcountry hiking knowledge and courtesy. Maybe that is happening, but I do remember a few privies along that trail to keep those sort of things at bay, and dont remember seeing human feces all along the trail. Mules on the other hand just go all over the trail and the mule trains aren't required to bury thier waste, and walking the North and South Kaibab trails you will very much encounter mule crap every 20 yards. And yes, e-coli can very much be attributed by animal waste like mules and horses. Keep it up. I guess the opposite of a greenie would be a brownie, or maybe just a blackie? Whatever it is, I don't care what you label me. I have my own thoughts on what you are, but I won't disclose them here, because Kurt always deletes my snipes, but allows the snipes from people that attack me to stay. So, whatever. And you're also very wrong about my "urban" dwellings, as I haven't had such luxury as city sewage in the areas i've lived (both in the west and the appalachians), but those sort of attacks are expected from people like yourself.

Permalink Submitted by trailadvocate on November 1, 2014 - 3:11pm.

The point I was making was the unprecidented volume of speed hikers runners and their overriding priority being their speed in crossing (all about me) while accepted defecation practices are far down the list of priorities for many ( documented). Don't believe it's a coincidence that the warning was issued on that stretch of trail particularly when mules only go down three of the 14 miles on the North Kaibab. Documented "Science":).

Permalink Submitted by Gary Wilson on November 1, 2014 - 3:14pm.

And water runs downhill. It's called GRAVITY! If it's from human caused trail runners, then the park service needs to start reigning it in. But like I said, the mule crap seems to be far more suspect.

Permalink Submitted by trailadvocate on November 1, 2014 - 3:22pm.

FYI:

http://www.nps.gov/grca/parknews/interim-permits-r2r.htm

Permalink Submitted by tahoma on November 3, 2014 - 8:10am.

The locations where the water contamination is found are backcountry campsites with piped water, so it seems unlikely mules and/ or hikers are directly to blame. The same pipeline from Roaring Springs supplies Phantom Ranch, Indian Gardens and the South Rim, which are not contaminated, probably due to treatment before distribution. Roaring Spring is fed by groundwater from the karst plateau of the North Rim, so the hotels, campgrounds and development there seem the most likely source of the pollution.

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