Scoop: Southern Utah luxury resort accused of water treatment violations
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A building at Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa. Image via Google Maps
A Moab-area resort that charges more than $1,000 per night told staff to "wash dishes with swimming pool water" while pumping unregulated water into guest rooms, according to a state notice.
Why it matters: The violations could hurt Southern Utah's surging luxury tourism industry, which boasts glamping retreats, stargazing domes and ultra-high-end resorts.
Driving the news: State officials on Friday ordered the Sorrel River Ranch Resort and Spa's water system to shut down after discovering its treatment plant wasn't functioning, and operators hadn't been taking required samples or keeping regular records.
- Local health officials ordered the resort to close to guests until it has an approved water source, per the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
The other side: Resort staff declined to speak with Axios about the notice, and forwarded questions weren't immediately answered.
Friction point: The investigation began days earlier, when lodge employees told local health officials of the order to wash dishes in pool water.
- The employees also reported that guests were being given bottled water, and tanks had been filled with water hauled in from an unknown place, without the approval of state drinking water regulators.
- DEQ regulators tell Axios they don't know whether the equipment or water was kept sanitary.
Between the lines: It's unclear from the report how long the treatment system was down, but TripAdvisor and Google reviews show that guests have been complaining of water problems at the resort since April.
What they're saying: "The dishes in the restaurant had dried gnats on them. The water filter needed to be changed," a July review states.
- "The water was brown and the shower sputtered water out," a Google reviewer wrote two weeks ago.
- Reviewers in May and June each reported losing water.
How it works: The resort's water system pumps Colorado River water through a treatment plant to 260 people, per the report. 180 of them are tourists.
State of play: An inspection of the treatment plant uncovered a thick gel from a chemical that normally mixes with the water and forces impurities to coagulate into filterable particles. The chemical could only become a gel if that step had "failed completely for a prolonged period of time," regulators wrote.
- "The plant's primary chemical barrier against waterborne disease had completely collapsed...."
That may have left consumers "to blindly drink actively unsafe, un-disinfected surface water," regulators wrote.
Threat level: "Anyone who consumed tap water at the resort recently should monitor themselves for gastrointestinal symptoms" and seek help if they fall ill, DEQ spokesperson Dave Noriega writes in response to Axios' query.
- The missing records make it impossible to tell how contaminated the water in guest rooms may have been, but the "severe failures in the treatment process" mean "incompletely treated water—which still poses a significant health risk—was pumped into the system."
Zoom in: Regulators also could not determine when the water system last had a certified operator. Instead, a man named Clyde "had been recently transferred from the resort's housekeeping staff to act as the system's treatment operator," the report states.
What we're watching: As of Tuesday, the resort's website was still taking reservations for this weekend, though DEQ confirmed no guests were staying at the hotel.