Grand Canyon National Park violated drinking water standards

PHOENIX – The Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) water system violated drinking water standards in August 2024 and the second quarter of 2025, according to the National Park Service.

NPS said neither case was an emergency, but noted that GRCA is required to monitor the drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis and failed to complete the proper tests during those time frames.

Specifically, GRCA did not complete all monitoring or testing for total coliform, chlorine and volatile organic compounds. Therefore it cannot be sure of the quality of the drinking water during those periods. 

According to NPS, GRCA did conduct a volatile organic compounds sample, but an administrative error prevented it from being recorded by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

In addition, the Transcanyon Waterline was under repair, resulting in one missing sample, and the other two missing samples there were lab errors that made the data unusable.

NPS noted that subsequent sampling was completed for each of the contaminants.

Anyone who drank the water during these time periods doesn’t currently need to do anything, NPS said.

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