Application of stable isotopes to identify problems in large-scale water transfer in Grand Canyon National Park

Waters on, and below, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon were sampled for stable isotopic analysis to determine the hydrologic effects of the transcanyon pipeline. The transcanyon pipeline transports North Rim water discharging at Roaring Spring across the Grand Canyon to South Rim. Ultimately this water is discharged through the sewage treatment plant at the Clearwell Overflow wash on the surface expression of the Bright Angel Fault. The North Rim water is some 8 per mil more depleted in deltaD than most of the water issuing from springs on the South Rim except for that from Indian Garden Spring which lies below the Clearwell Overflow wash. Such a composition of Indian Garden Spring must come from discharged wastewater onthe rim, percolating downward approximately 1,000 m vertically through the Bright Angel Fault. The difference in stable isotopic composition of the North Rim water renders it not only traceable in Indian Garden Spring water, but the proportions may be determined as well which result in projecting an admixture of up to half the total discharge. Curiously however, Indian Garden Spring contains no appreciable amounts of the anions associated with wastewater. More recently, a leak in the transcanyon pipeline was discovered above Indian Garden Spring, suggesting that a portion of that spring's discharge may have its origin in water directly from the pipeline. Nevertheless, these data provide information relevant to the National Park Service policy of precluding anthropomorphic forces impacting national parks. In addition, the stable isotopic ratios of park water provide a mechanism to assess the potential for future degradation, as well as the origin of any future degradation, of the water quality of Indian Garden Spring.