Wastewater Treatment

Labeled cutaway illustration of the Grand Canyon showing a spring at the bottom feeding a pipe that climbs to water tanks on both rims, with a bearded man in glasses tracing the route beside his parked lime-green scooter

Grand Canyon's Water System: Sourcing, Treatment, Distribution

How Grand Canyon National Park sources, treats, stores, and delivers water and wastewater across all four rim and inner-canyon developed areas.

Labeled cutaway illustration of the South Rim wastewater treatment plant showing screening, aeration, clarifier, and filtration stages with water splitting three ways at the end

South Rim Wastewater Treatment Plant — process, lagoons, and a 2025 PFAS finding

The South Rim’s fenced 1972 wastewater plant, its lagoons, and a 2025 USGS study that traced PFAS and drugs from its effluent into a nearby spring.

Labeled cutaway diagram of the 1926 water reclamation plant showing bar screens, three aeration tanks, filters, and a storage tank

The 1926 Plant That Turned Sewage Into the South Rim's Water

A railroad-built plant reclaimed wastewater for a rim with no natural water supply, ran trouble-free for 46 years, and is now a fenced historic district.