(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sewer line construction at Zion National Park on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
When hikers hop off the last shuttle stop in Zion Canyon, they'll find a sight that may surprise them: rows and rows of portable toilets.
"Nobody wants to go to a national park and go to a porta-potty," said Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow.
Relief is in sight, however. A new sewer line is on its way, in part funded by $18 million Snow helped secure from the Utah State Legislature for park upgrades. The sewer line will replace a failed septic system that has added costs and labor to Zion's maintenance team.
"What this system provides for us is the ability to shift our focus from maintaining a legacy, failed wastewater system toward other deferred maintenance that has been put off for many years," said Bry Carter, chief of facilities management for the park.
Construction commenced in August and has steadily progressed from Canyon Junction toward the Grotto, where the popular Angels Landing trail starts.
Visitors still have access to flush toilets at the Grotto, but because the larger septic system has failed, the park has to pump the septic tank one to three times a week depending on crowd size, said Carter.
Construction on the first phase of the project should be complete at the end of October. Until then, visitors will experience some minor slowdowns as crews work on the right side of the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.
(Brooke Larsen | The Salt Lake Tribune) Restrooms remain open at the Grotto shuttle stop in Zion National Park despite a failing septic system on Thursday, September 4, 2025. A new sewer line will upgrade the wastewater management system in the park.
The second phase will continue the line from the Grotto to the end of Zion Canyon at the Temple of Sinawava where the Narrows hike begins. If the project sticks to the anticipated timeline, the new sewer system will be complete by spring 2027.
"That's when we can finally get rid of all the porta-potties up there that are, in my opinion, not what people expect to see when they come to a national park," said Matthew Fink, park spokesperson.
The park pays roughly $300,000 annually to maintain the portable toilets at the Temple of Sinawava and pump the septic tank at the Grotto, according to Fink. Once construction crews complete the line, yearly maintenance costs will drop to an estimated $5,000 to $10,000.
"It's going to save the park a lot of money and definitely make it better for visitors," he said.
Keeping up with increased visitation
Nearly five million people visited Zion last year, making it the second most popular national park in the nation. Most crowds concentrate in the narrow Zion Canyon where the sewer line will run.
"Our infrastructure, which was solid infrastructure that was put in place at times where we only had maybe one to two million visitors a year, just can't take that amount of visitation," Fink said.
While visitation to Zion National Park has increased by nearly 90% since 2010, according to the park service, full time staff has gone down over that time period.
Staffing has become an even greater challenge at national parks across the country since the Trump administration implemented a hiring freeze earlier this year.
(Erin Schaff | The New York Times) Park Rangers assist visitors at Zion National Park in Utah, Aug. 15, 2025. The mandate to keep the parks open coupled with insufficient staff has forced employees to take on multiple roles.
An internal park service report from July, originally reported on by The New York Times, shows that Zion has been struggling to maintain its restrooms and water systems due to staffing shortages.
"Water systems monitoring and testing are reduced, raising public health concerns due to multiple tasking of other employees trying to carry out their primary duties and maintain water quality," the report said.
New sewer line could lighten the workload
The facilities team maintains over 14,000 assets -- from restrooms to trails -- in the park, Carter told The Tribune. That includes the custodial crew, which cleans hundreds and hundreds of toilets in the park at least twice a day.
The new sewer line will reduce the number of hours staff must spend unclogging blockages and pumping the septic tank. The installation will include automated monitoring devices so staff can keep an eye on the line remotely.
"It will help us tremendously," Carter said. "Right now we spend roughly 20 to 30 man hours per week addressing wastewater system issues up the main canyon, and that will largely be eliminated with this system."
The line will also include a pressurized system to ensure a smooth flow over Zion's rocky terrain and changing elevation.
Collaboration between numerous government agencies have made the sewer project possible. Zion ensured compliance with federal natural and cultural resource requirements and approved the final design from Sunrise Engineering.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sewer line construction at Zion National Park, on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
Washington County is carrying out the state funds and will transfer ownership of the project to Zion after completion.
The Ash Creek Special Service District, which runs sewer on the eastern half of the county, establishes wastewater requirements and ensures compliance with Washington County.
Without the support of the state, county and the service district, "this would not be taking place right now," Carter said.