Grand Canyon and pollution
The Grand Canyon, a stunning geological formation carved by the Colorado River in northern Arizona, attracts over five million visitors annually. This immense natural wonder, designated as a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is not only celebrated for its breathtaking views but also faces significant environmental challenges due to human activity. The influx of tourists has led to various forms of pollution, including air and noise pollution, while also stressing the already scarce water resources in the region.
The construction of infrastructure to support visitors has heightened these issues, as the park relies on a distant aquifer for water, leading to potential contamination and shortages. Additionally, the ecosystem suffers from the introduction of nonnative species and the impacts of commercial ventures like uranium mining. The Colorado River's flow has been altered by the Glen Canyon Dam, disrupting the riparian habitat and exacerbating ecological changes, including the loss of native fish species. Climate change and ongoing drought further threaten this vital waterway, raising concerns about its future. The situation highlights the delicate balance between conservation and tourism in one of America’s most iconic landscapes.
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Subject Terms
Grand Canyon and pollution
IDENTIFICATION: Deep gorge created by the Colorado River in northern Arizona
The popularity of the Grand Canyon as a tourist destination has contributed to a number of environmental problems in and around the canyon itself. These problems range from air and noise pollution to issues related to the scarcity of water resources.
The Grand Canyon is a deep, 450-kilometer-long (280-mile) segment of the Colorado River and its tributary canyons in northern Arizona. Grand Canyon National Park, one of the most heavily visited national parks, was established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1919 and has been designated a World Heritage Site. The parts of the Grand Canyon that lie outside the park’s boundaries are managed by the Hualaipai and Navajo tribal councils.
The arid climate of the Grand Canyon influences every resource in the region. Well-exposed rock layers reveal more than 1.8 billion years of the earth’s history. The arid climate preserves ancient human and animal remains, including those of many extinct animals that lived more than ten thousand years ago. Cliff dwellings, human artifacts, and old adobe buildings represent habitation dating back more than four thousand years. Grand Canyon tourists, however, often focus most on the canyon’s scenic grandeur and beautiful views. People who hike into the canyon commonly feel overwhelmed by the immensity of the chasm.
Ecosystems
Grand Canyon National Park, with more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) of relief, contains many ecosystems. The South Rim, a flat plateau, has an elevation of 2,100 meters (7,000 feet). The North Rim is an even higher plateau, 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) above sea level. Coniferous forests cover both rims and provide homes to deer, squirrels, and mountain lions. No streams cross the plateaus, as water from rain and snowmelt immediately flows underground in the karst terrains.
The coniferous forests extend down into the canyon, transitioning into an arid environment at lower elevations. Desert plants—such as cacti, acacia, mesquite, brittle bush, ocotillo, rabbitbrush, and agave—grow on the walls of the Grand Canyon. Desert bighorn sheep, lizards, snakes, skunks, and mice populate the slopes and side canyons. Water is scarce, particularly on the south side of the Colorado River. Cottonwood, ash, and redbud trees—as well as ferns, columbine, and other water-loving plants and animals—cluster around small seeps throughout the canyon and larger karst springs in some tributary canyons on the north side.
Another distinct ecological zone in the Grand Canyon is the riparian (riverside) habitat along the Colorado River at the bottom. Willow, arrowweed, and exotic tamarisk line the riverbanks. Otters, beavers, muskrats, fish, and other aquatic organisms call the Colorado River home.
Environmental Problems
After visiting part of the Grand Canyon in 1858, Lieutenant Joseph C. Ives wrote, The region is, of course, altogether valueless. . . . It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River . . . shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed." If his prediction had come true, the Grand Canyon would not be facing the many environmental problems that now threaten it. Instead, however, it has become an immensely popular tourist destination.
More than five million people visit Grand Canyon National Park each year. Support facilities for these visitors (campgrounds, hotels, shops, toilets) require water and sewage treatment, yet no water is available on either rim. Drilling to the closest aquifer, several thousands of feet underground, would be extremely costly, and so all water used in the park comes from a cave about halfway up the north side of the canyon. A transcanyon pipeline and associated pumphouses lift the water to two places on the South Rim and one location on the North Rim. The purity and quantity of this modest stream are critical to keeping the Grand Canyon open to visitors. Occasionally, the water’s impurities exceed state-set limits, and the park is forced to truck in water at tremendous expense. The numbers of visitors to the park and further development there will remain strictly limited unless other sources of water are developed.
The popularity of the Grand Canyon brings other problems as well. In an attempt to provide each visitor with a high-quality wilderness experience, the park requires overnight campers to register for permits and limits the number of visitors. In popular backcountry areas, campers are restricted to designated campgrounds that have solar-powered compost toilets. Because the desert recovers slowly from erosion, the park rangers enforce strict rules concerning vandalism and the cutting of switchbacks. They warn hikers to treat archaeological sites with respect. As in all national parks, visitors are forbidden to take any archaeological or historical materials, rocks, animals, or plants.
Because many visitors choose to see the park from the air, the presence of helicopters and low-flying airplanes has created a volatile issue. Many hikers have expressed dismay, and even anger, at the noise that accompanies the flights overhead, noting that it hinders their ability to enjoy the canyon’s beauty and grandeur. The government struggles to balance the demands of these two different user groups by strictly controlling the routes and heights of overflights.
Once known for being spectacularly clear, the air of the Grand Canyon is now occasionally marred by pollution from nearby coal-burning power plants. Since the 1970s, battles have raged between environmentalists concerned with preserving air quality in the area and those interested in developing the region’s abundant coal supplies.
In 2022, a coalition of environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency for an alleged lack of enforcement of air quality standards. Coal-fired electrical plants in New Mexico, Utah, and Eastern Arizona have often been cited as the cause for hazy conditions over the Grand Canyon. In addition to public utilities, human influences have also impacted the ecosystem of the Grand Canyon. These can range from the introduction of nonnative and invasive plant and animal species, to impacts from commercial enterprises such as uranium mining and livestock production. Commercial agricultural operations are also a contributor to air pollution at the Grand Canyon and were named in the lawsuit.
The most dramatic and contentious environmental issues in the Grand Canyon involve the Colorado River. The greatest change to the riparian zone resulted from construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, which has controlled the Colorado River flow through the Grand Canyon since 1963. The dam eliminated large floods, but the maintenance of more consistent flows throughout the year has had a severe impact on the riparian ecosystem, including elimination of many beaches and a general increase in vegetation (including nonnative species of plants) and wildlife. The dam has also altered water temperature and clarity. Predam water temperatures in the river fluctuated from 26 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer to nearly freezing in winter. The river temperature remains constant at 7 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit). Once noted for its load of sediment, the river below the dam is now clear. The combined changes in water temperature and clarity have had dramatic effects on the canyon’s aquatic ecology, resulting in the loss of many plant and fish species and the proliferation of nonnative carp and trout. A devastating drought in the Southwest combined with the effects of climate change have greatly affected the river in the first decades of the twenty-first century. In 2023, the environmental advocacy group American Rivers named the Colorado River as the most endangered waterway in the United States.
Bibliography
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