Transcanyon Waterline
Stronghold Engineering Inc. (SEI) was awarded the Transcanyon Waterline project construction contract on March 14, 2023. SEI staff have been busy working on administrative and logistical tasks, coordinating activities with NPS staff, and building the necessary support facilities on the South Rim that they’ll need to execute the construction for the water delivery system infrastructure and waterline.
The majority of the Transcanyon Waterline construction activities on the South Rim are located at three construction sites referred to as the helibase, south gate staging, and the water treatment plant/water tank areas. The sites are in operational administrative sections of the park with the water treatment plant and water tank construction site in the closest proximity to a visitor use area – Trailer Village.
SEI is building two 1-million-gallon water tanks to store raw water adjacent to two existing water tanks on the South Rim. The construction crews began by clearing and grading the site before moving on to excavating and creating the forms to pour concrete footings for the foundation of the tanks.
With the new design, water will pump up from Havasupai Gardens to the new raw water tanks. Gravity fed lines will transfer water from the slightly higher elevated raw water tanks to the water treatment plant for treatment and transfer on to the existing water tanks for storage. The addition of the raw water tanks is a design element to make the overall system more resilient to potential future failures by enabling park staff to continue to treat water with increased storage capacity.
Between the water treatment plant and existing water tanks is a pathway section from Trailer Village connecting to the Greenway Trail that will need to be closed during periods of the construction. Visitors will need to follow the detour signs to alternative pathways during the closures. The construction crews are building a new path routed around the water treatment plant site for future use.
Read the full the project announcement here (link to https://www.nps.gov/grca/getinvolved/tcwl.htm)