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A river ran through it
What you see from the air — or from the ground, if you walk through Tempe Beach Park — simultaneously is and is not a river.
Huh?
Okay, let me explain. What you see there today isn’t technically a river — it’s called the Tempe Town Lake. It’s actually a resevoir, with a dam to the east and the west keeping the water in place. The reason for the bit of confusion about it looking like a river is that it is actually occupies the currently dry riverbed of the Salt River.
You see, once upon a time the Salt River actually flowed through the downtown Phoenix area, before it was diverted to the east of the city into the Arizona Canal to provide drinking and irrigation water for the Phoenix metro area. Apart from the lake, the riverbed now remains dry in this area, except during and after periods of heavy rain.
The flow of history
Groundbreaking for the lake was held August 8 1997. Construction on the dams began shortly after and the bladders for the inflatable dams were ordered and shipped from Japan. Water began flowing into the lake on June 2 1999 and the lake was declared full on July 14. On November 7 of that year, the lake was opened to the public.
In the 12 year history of the lake, there has been one dam failure — on the evening of July 20 2010, a section of the inflatable dam on the west side burst, releasing water at a rate of 15,000 cubic feet per second into the Salt River bed. By morning about 75% of the water had drained from the lake, dropping the average water level down to about three feet. The failed bladder was replaced by early October of that year, and the lake was opened to the public again on October 26 2010.
Vital stats
According to this fact sheet from the Town of Tempe, the lake is two miles long, covering 220 surface acres. It varies between 800 and 1,200 feet wide and averages 12.5 feet deep, ranging from 7 to 19 feet. The overall capacity of the lake is approximately 977 million gallons. The lake is kept full thanks to reclaimed water and is kept clean by keeping the water well mixed and aerated. Construction cost just over $45.5 million, of which $27 million are being absorbed by private developers.
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