When the idiots on the Tempe City Council bought this stupid damn they got a verbal guarantee that it would last 30 years. Of course the fools on the Tempe City Council get screwed and the damn only lasted 10 years. I suspect they waived the 30 year written guarantee in exchange for bribes which they call "campaign contributions" in political correct talk.
Now we will hear lots of BS being shoveled by the royal rulers of Tempe why they didn't screw up and we will see them try to shift the blame of the busted damn on anything and everything except themselves.
They tyrants that like to pretend that Tempe Town Toilet is a park open to the public. But in reality Tempe Town Toilet is a place the city of Tempe uses to raise revenue by holding concerts and events which are open to the public only when they PAY to get in.
These concerts create noise, traffic jams and parking problems in the north Tempe area.
That's why we the people call it "Tempe Town Toilet" instead of the "Tempe Town Lake" invented by the royal rulers of Tempe.
Source Tempe Town Lake dam bursts
by Karina Bland - Jul. 20, 2010 12:12 AM
The Arizona Republic
A section of the inflatable rubber dam that forms Tempe Town Lake exploded shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday, sending a wall of water into the Salt River bed.
The river filled as far as the eye could see within seconds, witnesses reported.
Warning sirens started wailing within minutes, and officers rushed along the riverbed to try to warn anyone of the approaching flood.
There was no immediate word of any casualties or injuries.
In April 2009, Tempe officials said they intended to ignore a safety recommendation from the makers of Town Lake's rubber dams because sufficient safeguards already were in place to prevent the dams from deflating.
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman rushed to the scene Tuesday and said authorities didn't yet know why the dam failed. The top concern was public safety, so city officials alerted all the municipalities downstream, along with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, he said.
Hallman said the other cities were checking their sections of the river for anyone in the water's path. Helicopters were scanning the river, along with emergency personnel.
Hallman said transients are known to camp on the river bottom this time of year.
The mayor said the flow was 15,000 cubic feet per second, equivalent to the amount released during heavy storm flows.
He added that the lake is now closed to the public.
Tempe police said no structures were in danger. Sheriff's deputies and police officers were riding ATVs along the river to see if anyone was in peril.
The lake stretches along the Salt south of Loop 202 from east of Rural Road to west of Mill Avenue.
Preston Swan, 24, of Tempe, witnessed the dam's collapse.
"It sounded like a big explosion," he said.
He and some friends were riding bikes in the area when a section of the recreational lake's western dam erupted. It collapsed immediately and water instantly surged into the riverbed.
Maureen Howell, 24, of Tempe, said she called 911 and that police arrived almost immediately.
"We stuck around because we thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime event," she said.
Philip Kanemeyer, 23, of Tempe, said the sound of the explosion was so loud that he ducked. "I saw pieces flying 10 feet into the air."
"It just flooded over in seconds," he said. "It was a high wall of water."
Lukas Henderson, 13, of Tempe, was biking on the north side of the lake with his sister and dad.
"All of a sudden, we heard this ka-boom and the ground started shaking," he said.
Six- to 8-foot waves poured out.
"It was like, whoosh, and the lake started emptying," he said. "It was amazing."
A crowd of hundreds soon gathered Tuesday night on the south side of the lake to observe the spectacle. Witnesses said small animals climbed up the river's banks to escape the floodwaters.
The lake was expected to continue draining Tuesday night and into this morning.
Tempe Town Lake, containing 977 million gallons of water, had its 10th anniversary Dec. 12.
Repairs had been scheduled to begin on the dam, which was deteriorating more rapidly than expected, in early February. But a severe winter storm postponed the work.
Hallman said replacement dams were being built but had not yet been completed.
In 2009, the dams' manufacturer, Bridgestone Industrial Products, had urged Tempe to evaluate whether the safety measures at the lake were sufficient "to prevent injury and reduce the risk of loss of life" if the dams were to rapidly deflate. Bridgestone manufactured the eight inflatable dams that contained the lake.
The eastern dams upstream are submerged and have held up. But a plan to keep the western dams wet failed, exposing the rubber to scorching sun that has damaged the material.
Tempe and Bridgestone officials have argued over whose fault that is. In March 2009, the City Council approved an agreement for Bridgestone to replace the four damaged dams at the lake's western end.
But the question of people's safety on the lake if the dams were to deflate remained a sticking point. Bridgestone recommended that the city look at increasing the buffer zone between safety buoys and the western dams, adding warning signage and enhancing the alarm system to better warn lake users if the dams rapidly deflate.
The cost to temporarily replace the dams was estimated at $2.5 million earlier this year. Tempeat that timebudgeted an additional $250,000 to fund the project's contingency costs. Bridgestone was expected toreimburse Tempe up to $3 million of the costs to replace the dam.
Tuesday night, federal river flow gauges downstream showed the sudden spike in water flow rates as the lake drained. The amount of water measured at Priest Drive rose from nearly nothing at 9:45 p.m. to more than 13,000 cubic feet per second an hour later.
Such a spike in river flow is comparable to winter flash floods on rivers in Arizona's high country.
The amount of water moving in the river was less than the amounts that flowed downstream during rainy winters in the past. In January 2009, the river flowed at more than 18,000 cubic feet per second at its peak, as Salt River Project spilled water from its reservoirs upstream. During the winter of 2005, the flow peaked at about 41,000 cubic feet per second.
But in those cases, the flow was increased gradually over days or weeks.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, the flow downstream had not yet reached the next monitoring station, in the Gila River bed at Estrella Parkway.
Water that flows downstream will eventually reach Painted Rock Dam northwest of Gila Bend. The flood control dam can contain about as much water as Roosevelt Lake, far more than could escape from Tempe Town Lake.
Republic reporter Shaun McKinnon contributed to this article.
Inflatable dam bursts at Tempe Town Lake
Water gushes into normally dry Salt River bed
Posted: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 11:13 pm
The Associated Press | 1 comment
Authorities say Tempe's man-made lake will likely lose two-thirds to three-fourths of its water after a rubberized dam burst and sent thousands of gallons of water gushing downstream into a dry river bed.
The 16-foot-high section of the dam on Tempe Town Lake near Arizona State University's main campus broke open about 10 p.m. Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of any injuries and authorities said no structures were in immediate danger.
Tempe spokeswoman Kris Baxter-Ging says its unclear how the rubber dam burst, but she says workers are speeding up an already under way effort to replace the dam's bladders.
She says police and fire were working to secure area around the lake, which can hold up to 1 billion gallons of water.
The 16-foot-high section of the dam sent waves of water pouring forth at an estimated 40,000 cubic feet per second.
"All of a sudden, we heard this ka-boom and the ground started shaking," said 13-year-old Lukas Henderson, who was biking on the northside of the lake with his sister and father.
Authorities were trying to locate transients who use the river bottom as a home and get them to safety, Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said at a news conference.
Philip Kanemeyer of Tempe said the sound of the explosion was so loud that he ducked. The 23-year-old said he saw pieces of the dam flying 10 feet into the air.
There was no immediate word on what may have caused the collapse. The lake has four inflatable dams on both ends and the dam sections were supposed to last for 25 to 30 years.
However, Tempe officials determined in 2007 that Arizona's harsh sun and dry climate was taking a toll on the rubber dams and might have to be replaced in a few years. The city inspects the dams about once a month and repaired two tears in 2002.
Tempe bought the dams in 1998 and filled the lake the following year.
Last year, the cash-strapped city was working with Bridgestone, the company that built the dams, to come up with a stopgap solution for their replacement; Tempe could not afford to properly replace the aging dams, and Bridgestone was no longer in the business of making them but was willing to lease the city four replacement bladders.
At the time, assistant city manager Jeff Kulaga told the Tribune the old dams were in "OK" condition, "but they've been weathered for 10 years."
Bridgestone: We warned of need to keep Tempe Town Lake dam cool
by William Hermann and Jim Walsh - Jul. 21, 2010 03:58 PM
The Arizona Republic
Bridgestone Industrial Products said it warned Tempe for more than a decade that the rubber dam that failed Tuesday night needed to be kept cool and moist with a sprinkler system or "overtopping" water to compensate for the Valley's severe heat and sunlight.
But Bridgestone spokesman Don Darden said the sprinkler system on the dam had not been used since last summer, and was not in use this summer, because of Tempe's plans to replace the dam. The company manufactured the dam's components.
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said during a press conference Wednesday that Tempe had been planning to start replacing two of the four bladders that make up the west side of the dam today. People and equipment would have been below the dam and there would have been fatalities if the bladder had burst this morning rather than last night, he said.
City Manager Charlie Meyer said an inspection this morning of the bladder indicates a tear opened up along a seam for reasons he couldn't account for. Don Hawkes, Tempe water utilities manager, said the city has monthly inspections and an annual inspection, and he believes that to be sufficient.
Meyer said a video shows no one was near the segment when it blew and the city is confident no one was hurt. He said believes, based on the video, that there was no foul play.
Under the terms of a 2009 agreement, Bridgestone has supplied Tempe with two of four rubber bladders that make up Tempe Town Lake's western dam. One was shipped to Tempe in February and another on July 12, Darden said.
"We understand the severity of the conditions. That's why we required the overtopping as part of the original specifications" in a 1999 sales agreement, Darden said. "Our understanding was that the sprinkler system was not operational."
Hallman said during the press conference that the city expects Bridgestone to pay the costs of repairing the dam and for expenses related to the incident.
Asked if the city is upset with Bridgestone, Hallman said, "We have had a troubling relationship with Bridgestone, but we expect them to help us to ensure the public safety." [As usual government nannies blame other people for THEIR screw ups! The members of the Tempe City Council f*cked up royal by not writting a contract that made Bridgestone responsible for the defective damn and now they are blaming the f*ck on Bridgestone instead of themselves! ]
The third bladder is scheduled for delivery to Tempe by the end of August and the fourth by the end of October, he said. The company had not agreed to pay any other costs from damages, or for replacement water expected to cost $250,000 to $300,000.
The dams were built by Bridgestone before the company decided to discontinue its rubber dam business. The company notified Tempe in 2007 that it was pulling out of the rubber dam business, according to a city press release.
In all, the company built rubber dams for 200 lakes in the U.S., but Tempe posed the most severe conditions for sunlight and temperature, Darden said. The Tempe dam also is the only one to fail, but it still survived the 10-year warranty period.
"We're sorry to see it happen," Darden said about the failure, "but we're willing to work with them in any way we need to."
According to the minutes of a June 10 Tempe City Council meeting, Bridgestone notified the city that the dam's lifespan may be shorter than originally anticipated based the condition noted in annual monitoring, trends with other large Bridgestone dams and dams installed in similar climates.
Because of those reasons, Bridgestone agreed to replace the four bladders that make up the western dam for a five-year period as a temporary solution until a more permanent solution could be arranged. The replacement was to start this month and continue to March 2011.
But Hallman said that he feels confident the lake will be full and ready for use by the time of the Ironman Triathlon in November. [It figures! All Hallman is concerned about is if the lake will be full the time Ironman Triathlon comes on so he can be in it!]
He said it will take about two weeks to refill the lake. First, the city will complete a thorough inspection of what happened.
The city will stick with Bridgestone for the short term to get the dam fixed and the lake filled. The city will not use Bridgestone for long-term plans to replace the dam, Hallman said.
A crowd of about 100 people gathered for the press conference, in addition to members of the media.
Officials detail response to Tempe Town Lake dam breach
by William Hermann - Jul. 21, 2010 02:24 PM
The Arizona Republic
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said Wednesday that when word of the dam breaking reached authorities, "public safety was our first concern." The ensuing emergency drill, which had been rehearsed earlier this year, proved successful, other authorities said.
Tempe Fire Department spokesman Mike Reichling explained what happened when 911 calls began to come in at about 9:46 p.m. reporting the dam collapse.
Reichling said that Tempe Fire units were heading to Town Lake within about 3 minutes of the incident, and that the battalion chief in charge "began to put the appropriate emergency plan into place."
Reichling said that plans exist on the state county and municipal level for likely disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, "and, in Tempe, for a dam failure."
That meant that thousand of gallons of water would begin to rush down the bed of the Salt River.
Reichling said the battalion chief called the Phoenix Fire Department Alarm Center at 12th and Jefferson streets and the call was relayed to the Maricopa County Emergency Management Office, located at 52nd Street and McDowell Road in Phoenix. The county office then activated the plan for dealing with a dam collapse, which chiefly meant making sure nobody was in the river bed and in danger from the rushing water.
By shortly after 10 p.m. a Phoenix Fire helicopter was being readied to fly the riverbed and use Forward Looking Infrared equipment to spot people in possible danger. Also, more than 60 Maricopa County Sheriffs Office, Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix and Goodyear officers and fire fighters responded, many walking the riverbanks and parts of the river bottom looking for people who might be sleeping there, particularly homeless people who sometimes seek shelter in the river bed.
Reichling noted that the water flowing from the dam, about 15,000 cfs, was about the same that had been released during much of the spring because of heavy runoff, and so the likelihood of people being in the water's path was low. He said that as of Wednesday there was no evidence of anyone being hurt by the water.
"The system worked as it was meant to," Reichling said.
Tempe Town Lake breach will have immediate environmental impact
by Shaun McKinnon - Jul. 21, 2010 04:57 PM
The Arizona Republic
The ecological effects of the dam's failure will take time to measure and not everything will be readily visible, scientists said Wednesday.
There will be the immediate effects of a lake losing most of its water and the longer-term effects of a rapid pulse of water down a normally dry riverbed, said Nancy Grimm, an Arizona State University ecologist who studies urban streams and riparian systems.
"I think there will be a lot of really interesting environmental impacts that will be long-lasting," she said. "This has been a system set up from the beginning to have a life that was mostly a lake but sometimes a river."
The loss of water in the lake will take a toll on aquatic life right away. Small organisms may be able to survive in shallower water or burrow into the lakebed, but fish that weren't swept out in the initial flood may not fare as well.
That's why the city has called in a contractor to remove and relocate fish before the riverbed is completely dry, said Tempe Councilwoman Shana Ellis. The Arizona Game and Fish Department stocked the lake in November with 3,200 trout.
The lake doesn't support much traditional riparian vegetation, such as cottonwood trees or willows, but other wildlife that may have depended on the lake for water will have to look elsewhere, such as wetlands that have formed above the dam since the lake was created.
Meantime, some of the water that poured out of the lake could percolate into the riverbed and into river banks, where riparian vegetation can grow. But because the burst was short and relatively small, the benefits could be short-lived, Grimm said.
Trees and willows need a steady source of water and will die or go dormant if the water dries up. Constructed wetlands at the Rio Salado and Tres Rios projects, both downstream of the lake, are maintained with supplemental water supplies, though both locations benefit during wet years, when runoff flows through the river.
Grimm said researchers could learn more about urban lakes and streams if they can take water and soil samples from the lake before it is refilled.
Reporter Edythe Jensen contributed to this article.
Officials detail response to Tempe Town Lake dam breach
by William Hermann - Jul. 21, 2010 02:24 PM
The Arizona Republic
Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said Wednesday that when word of the dam breaking reached authorities, "public safety was our first concern." [Yea Sure! Then why didn't the idiots close off the lake when they found the damn was defective?] The ensuing emergency drill, which had been rehearsed earlier this year, proved successful, other authorities said.
Tempe Fire Department spokesman Mike Reichling explained what happened when 911 calls began to come in at about 9:46 p.m. reporting the dam collapse.
Reichling said that Tempe Fire units were heading to Town Lake within about 3 minutes of the incident, and that the battalion chief in charge "began to put the appropriate emergency plan into place."
Reichling said that plans exist on the state county and municipal level for likely disasters, including earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, "and, in Tempe, for a dam failure."
That meant that thousand of gallons of water would begin to rush down the bed of the Salt River.
Reichling said the battalion chief called the Phoenix Fire Department Alarm Center at 12th and Jefferson streets and the call was relayed to the Maricopa County Emergency Management Office, located at 52nd Street and McDowell Road in Phoenix. The county office then activated the plan for dealing with a dam collapse, which chiefly meant making sure nobody was in the river bed and in danger from the rushing water.
By shortly after 10 p.m. a Phoenix Fire helicopter was being readied to fly the riverbed and use Forward Looking Infrared equipment to spot people in possible danger. Also, more than 60 Maricopa County Sheriffs Office, Tempe, Scottsdale, Phoenix and Goodyear officers and fire fighters responded, many walking the riverbanks and parts of the river bottom looking for people who might be sleeping there, particularly homeless people who sometimes seek shelter in the river bed. [Yea great work! A half hour after the flood your looking for homeless people who are soaking wet pretending to rescue them. Believe me they left seconds after the wall of water hit their sleeping bags]
Reichling noted that the water flowing from the dam, about 15,000 cfs, was about the same that had been released during much of the spring because of heavy runoff, and so the likelihood of people being in the water's path was low. He said that as of Wednesday there was no evidence of anyone being hurt by the water.
"The system worked as it was meant to," Reichling said.
All fish that survived Tempe Town Lake burst will die
by Katie Urbaszewski - Jul. 23, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Once Tempe officials determined the fish that remained in Tempe Town Lake would not survive a possible rescue mission, they decided to dispose of them in what they deem to be the most natural way possible: by feeding them to an alligator.
Hundreds and possibly thousands of fish were left in small pools scattered throughout the 220-acre lake after one of its dams breached Tuesday night and sent nearly a billion gallons of water cascading down the normally dry Salt River.
Because of the heat, sediment and low oxygen levels, authorities determined that the remaining fish would not survive being gathered and transported to another lake.
"And even if we could, most are carp," said Rick Amalfi, vice president for Aquatic Consulting and Testing, the contractor Tempe hired for the cleanup. "Where would we put them? Most urban lakes are always looking for ways to get rid of carp."
Russ Johnson, president of the Phoenix Herpetological Society, owns an alligator named Tuesday and suggested the idea. Officials will feed some of the recently deceased fish to Tuesday this morning at 11 a.m. in the parking lot of the Tempe Center for the Arts.
Tuesday is a 6-foot, bred-in-captivity alligator, and Johnson regularly brings her to classrooms to educate students. Tuesday was one of 32 alligators seized by Arizona Game and Fish agents in 2005 from a man illegally transporting them.
Amalfi said this new plan works out well because he expected many of the fish to die Thursday night due to lack of oxygen production from algae.
The cleanup has been very minimal at this point, and the fishy smell many onlookers said they've smelled at the lake is actually a damp sediment smell, he said.
"We're not seeing fish all over the place and fins sticking out of the water," he said. "It seems most fish went right out over the downstream dam."
Though officials didn't know how many fish might be left, the department knew the population of surviving fish couldn't be large after 95 percent of the water rushed downstream, said Game and Fish spokesman Rory Aikens.
"And as shallow as that water is, and as much nutrients got mixed up in the water along with poor oxygen levels - that's pretty much doomed the vast majority of any fish left," Aikens said.
Amalfi said his cleanup crew, which for the past two days has only consisted of four people, planned a larger cleanup Thursday night.
"We'll pick up and dispose of the dead fish, but we'll bag those that are relatively fresh," he said.
Aquatic Consulting is also focusing on mosquito control to "make sure things don't get out of hand too much too quickly," Amalfi said.
Workers will use a combination of chemicals that target mosquitoes in the water, including pellets that sink and dissolve in the water. The city is also considering leveling the bottom of the lake so water doesn't collect.
"We want to have as little of an impact on the environment as possible," Amalfi said.
Cleaning up any remaining fish will keep the smell at bay, and how long the sediment odor lasts depends on the weather, he said.
"As it dries, it'll go away," Amalfi said. "If we get hot, dry weather it should go away pretty quickly."
In the meantime, Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said he is confident the lake will be refilled by November, and Game and Fish water-quality analyst Marc Dahlberg said that when the lake is refilled the department will begin to rebuild the fish population.
As the lake refills from the Salt River Project canal system, fish will flow in as well, Dahlberg said. This is how Tempe Town Lake received most of its fish in the past, he added.
But the lake's environment, with a drastically smaller amount of sediment, algae, aquatic plants and minnows, will not be able to support the population of fish it did before, Dahlberg said. He said until the lake becomes a more stable environment, fish will not thrive or reproduce.
But the Game and Fish Department always brings in a supply of trout to be caught before the summer months, when the temperature is too hot for them to survive, Dahlberg said.
People who fish at Tempe Town Lake can expect the fishing to improve slowly over time, Dahlberg said. Catches will be unlikely immediately after the lake is filled but should get back to normal in a couple of years.
"You might catch a bass that's 8 inches this year, and a 12- to 15-inch one in a couple of years," he said.
A serious fish tale as Tempe Town Lake empties
Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 8:26 am | Updated: 5:29 pm, Thu Jul 22, 2010.
The Associated Press
A serious fish tale is unfolding at Tempe Town Lake. The future of 10,000 fish that until a few days ago were swimming around and waiting to be caught and now face death.
Arizona Game and Fish Department spokesman Eric Swanson tells KTVK-TV in Phoenix that most of the fish were swept downstream when one of the rubber bladders of the dam split a seam Tuesday night.
But thousands more remain behind in the drying bed that used to be Tempe Town Lake.
Swanson said they're unable to save the remaining fish because of the high temperatures, rapidly dropping oxygen level, and the large scale and scope of the situation.
Plans are in the works to remove the dead and dying fish to reduce odor and diminish any potential health hazards.
Town Lake dam replacement had been set for day after burst
Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 5:30 pm | Updated: 9:45 am, Thu Jul 22, 2010.
Garin Groff, Tribune
A yearlong project to replace Tempe Town Lake’s aging dams was set to begin today, just hours after it ruptured and drained the lake.
Had the dam failed just a few hours later, a torrent of water would have flushed away equipment and the people working on the project.
“I’ll be the first to tell you that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good,” Mayor Hugh Hallman said at the side of the drained lake this morning.
Sections of the new dam are waiting to be installed, and Tempe expects it will refill the lake by Nov. 1. Some small events will be displaced but the lake should be restored in time for the Arizona Ironman competition, one of the lake’s main events.
The city tried to find a silver lining in the overnight loss of a lake that’s a centerpiece luring tourism and economic development to the once-blighted riverbed.
No injuries were reported, and an emergency alarm system on the lake was triggered within minutes of the rupture at 9:46 p.m. Tuesday.
“The system worked exactly as it was supposed to,” Hallman said.
Anybody who would have been on the lake would have noticed the water level dropping, but city officials said barriers by the dams keep boaters far enough away to prevent a current from sweeping them away.
Video surveillance on the dam showed the rupture was quick and there no warning signs or indication of intentional damage, City Manager Charlie Meyer said. The dam appeared to come apart at one of its seams.
With the lake’s billion gallons of water mostly gone, crews can replace the dams much faster and at a lower cost.
Tempe had planned to replace each of the four rubber bladders without emptying the lake, as a metal structure can be placed next to the dam to prevent water loss while a segment is removed.
It takes about six weeks to replace each segment. Once the dams are back up, it takes two weeks to fill the lake.
Three of the structures will be in place when the city starts filling the lake, while the temporary dam will be in place as the final one is being installed.
In the meantime, Hallman said visitors will notice a smell coming from the riverbed. Puddles up to 3 feet deep will accumulate in parts of the former lake.
Work still began on Monday, as two dam segments have been delivered by manufacturer Bridgestone Industrial Products. The last of the Japanese-made rubber bladders is set to arrive in October.
The dam’s integrity has been a known issue since 2006, when Tempe learned the rubber was aging much faster than expected. A manufacturing problem was to blame, Meyer said.
When the dams were installed in 1999, water was supposed to flow over the west dam to cool the rubber and reduce sunlight. But one of the segments sagged too much in the middle, making it impossible to have water flowing.
The city will install a sprinkler system so the new dams are kept wet. Also, a pedestrian bridge will be built over the dam after the repairs are made, and that structure will offer some shade.
The dams were supposed to last 25-30 years, but a 10-year warranty expired in 2009.
Tempe will lease the replacements for five years, after extensive negotiations with Bridgestone to have it cover some costs because the dams were not as durable as expected.
The transaction was complicated in part because Bridgestone exited the rubber dam business in 2008. These structures are the last ones the company plans to make, spokesman Don Darden said.
Bridgestone has about 200 rubber dams throughout North America, but none in a place as hot as Arizona, he said. The company said heat was to blame for the short lifespan.
“To our knowledge, this is not something that’s happened before,” Darden said.
Tempe expects Bridgestone to pay expenses related to the rupture, including the roughly $250,000 worth of water to refill it. Hallman noted the city has been frustrated with Bridgestone in the past but said he expects the company will fulfill its obligations now.
Tempe has studied dam replacements since learning about the problems with the existing ones. Options include other brands of rubber dams or other types of mechanical systems that allow for adjustable height. A solid dam is not an option: The river has had flows of 200,000 cubic feet of water per second in flood events, and any structures have to be lowered during those times to prevent Tempe from flooding.
Preliminary studies suggest a new system could cost $25 million, said Jeff Kulaga, an assistant city manager. But he cautioned that more research is needed to select the new system and determine its cost.
The city does not plan to replace the four rubber bladders on the lake’s east end because they are usually covered with water and haven’t suffered significant damage.
Until the lake is restored, Tempe will work to accommodate groups that planned events there. Hallman said it’s in everybody’s best interest to have the lake back as quickly as possible, but he said the work is complicated.
“This is not an Erector Set and this is not LEGOs,” Hallman said.
People gathered all day to gawk and snap pictures of the busted dam section near the Tempe Center for the Arts. Shiloh Murillo of Tempe visits the lake about once a week and returned this morning with her three daughters, ages 5 to 9. Murillo said she’ll probably keep going to Tempe Beach Park even if the lake is empty, in part out of fascination over how the repairs will be made.
She recalled watching the city build the 220-acre lake and following the debate over whether Tempe should have built the $45 million lake.
“This whole concept was pretty controversial,” Murillo said. “Not to me. I thought it was a great idea.”
Tempe Town Lake dam burst: Environmental mess at hand
by Derek Quizon - Jul. 23, 2010 03:53 PM
The Arizona Republic
Birds, mosquitoes and dead fish are just a few of the challenges facing Tempe officials now struggling to deal with the environmental consequences of the dam rupture that nearly emptied Tempe Town Lake this week.
The fallout from the incident could include mosquito nests and the stench of dead fish, which could repel visitors and attract birds that might interfere with flights in and out of nearby Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The city held a press conference Friday morning to announce they would be donating fish collected at the bottom of the river to the Phoenix Herpetological Society. Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians, and the society keeps thousands of them at its sanctuary in Scottsdale, including snakes, tortoises, small lizards and alligators.
President Russ Johnson announced the fish retrieved from the lake would be used to feed the society's 1,100 animals over the next few months. He announced the plan shortly before feeding a carp to Tuesday, a female six-foot-long alligator from the sanctuary.
"That's recycling in action, right there," he said to a crowd of nearby reporters and photographers as Tuesday gnawed at the dead fish. Many onlookers who had been eager for the feeding to begin were suddenly repelled by the rancid smell.
The fish may be the biggest problem stemming from the collapse of the dam. The odor is not only unpleasant but could bring in some uninvited guests, said Rick Amalfi, vice president of Aquatic Consulting and Testing Inc., a company that helps manage the lake.
"Part of the (purpose) of picking up the fish is to prevent a large number of birds from coming in and feeding on them," he said. "Some of the birds are a problem because they can . . . end up right in the flight path of a landing plane."
As the lake begins to dry out, the city will be working with Tempe-based Aquatic Consulting to retrieve the remaining fish. Amalfi said it would pledge between 10 and 20 employees to help with the clean up. The Arizona Game and Fish Department has promised manpower and equipment as well, he said.
First, though, they have to wait for the lake bottom to dry up. Amalfi and another employee from Aquatic Consulting found it difficult to retrieve Tuesday's meal because the ground at the lake is so muddy. The two men sank ankle-deep in the mud at the bottom, making it difficult to move.
"We have done much smaller scale (collections) here before," he said. "Once the water recedes enough, once this land dries out, we can start collecting."
The city of Tempe and Aquatic Consulting are also hoping to prevent mosquitoes from nesting in the puddles of standing water at the lake.
Starting next week, Amalfi said, they will be releasing larvicides - agents designed to kill and prevent growth of mosquitoes in the larval stage - into the standing water. Amalfi said the agents, including bacteria-based Vectobact and the fungal larvicide Natular, are designed to last no more than 30 days and promised they would have minimal impact on life forms other than mosquito larvae.
But officials are also bracing to deal with the most dangerous, and often the most careless animal of them all - humans.
Kris Baxter, a spokeswoman for the city's community development department, said the city has already had reports of people going down to the riverbed to get a close look at the collapsed dam.
The river bed and the bottom of the lake are dangerous right now because the mud makes mobility difficult, Baxter said. People who are injured or who find themselves in the middle of fast-moving water may not be able to get out, she added.
"People used to party here. We certainly don't want them to go back to their habits of coming down and hanging out or treasure hunting," she said. "It's just not safe here right now."
The city's police and park rangers will be conducting more patrols in the area in the coming weeks, Baxter said. Anyone who sees people in the lake bed is encouraged to call the Tempe Police Department's non-emergency number at (480)-350-8311.
Tempe Town Lake dam inspections revealed damage before burst
by Dianna M. Náñez - Jul. 26, 2010 04:13 PM
The Arizona Republic
An air leak, bulge and a piece of glass were noted during recent inspections of the section of Tempe Town Lake dam that exploded last week, but neither the city nor the manufacturer considered the damage serious enough to warrant action.
Reports detailing the inspections, dating back to 2009 and including the most recent one on May 28, were released Mondayin response to a public-records request filed last week by The Arizona Republic.
The inspections dealt with the four inflatable-rubber dams that had contained the west-end of the 977 million gallon man-made lake. Last week, a seam on one of the dams tore, causing the dam to break and the water to drain from the lake. The flaws noted in the inspections were observed in the section of the dam that broke, but not along the seam that tore, said Nikki Ripley, a city spokeswoman.
Tempe officials had known about the air leak and bulge for at least two years and were monitoring the damage, Ripley said. The problem with the glass had not previously been observed.
The glass was thought to be from a broken bottle that had pushed into the rubber when the dam was lowered earlier this year during a flood. There appeared to be no air leaking from where the glass had punctured the dam. Tempe officials in charge of monitoring the dam thought it would be safer to leave it in than to pull it out and risk a leak, Ripley said.
Ripley said that Tempe had notified Bridgestone Industrial Products, the company that built the dams, of the bulge and air leak. The city planned to tell Bridgestone about the glass this month, when the replacement of the dams was scheduled. The replacement work was to start on Wednesday, the day after the dam burst.
Bridgestone inspected the air leak and bulge shortly after it was found. Ripley said Bridgestone officials advised Tempe that the damage did not call for repairing the dam. The dam had been repaired when similar damage was found in 2002 in other sections of the west-end dam.
In response to the recent inspections, Bridgestone had asked Tempe to monitor the pressure for the damaged rubber bladder. Tempe's staff did so and noted that some air was leaking but not at a rate fast enough to prevent air blowers from quickly filling the rubber bladder with the appropriate level of air.
Tempe said it also had notified the Arizona Department of Water Resources of the damaged dam.
"We worked in consultation with Bridgestone and (the Arizona Department of Water Resources) to ensure that at all times they (the dams) were safe and well-maintained," Ripley said Monday.
Don Darden, a Bridgestone spokesman, said the decision to not repair the dam was made in agreement with Tempe.
"The inspector, city and engineers . . . found these were not critical issues with that particular dam," Darden said.
Tempe expects to have the dam replaced by November in time for the Ford Ironman Arizona Triathlon.
Tempe had planned to begin replacing the dams this month after being warned years ago that the dams were deteriorating faster than expected under the scorching desert sun. Bridgestone and Tempe had argued over who was to blame for that deterioration. Under a subsequent legal agreement, Bridgestone was loaning Tempe temporary dams that were scheduled to be installed beginning last week. Tempe would have had to remove the Bridgestone dams and pay for permanent dams when the loan period expired.
The cost to refill the lake is estimated at $250,000 to $300,000. Bridgestone has not agreed to pay that. But Tempe has said it could use water credits to fund that cost.
Reporter Edythe Jensen contributed to this article.
Arizona government idiots prevent Tempe government idiots from fixing Tempe Town Toilet
Tempe Town Lake dam replacement put on hold
by Dianna M. Náñez - Jul. 28, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
The state water agency charged with Arizona's non-federal dam safety has put the replacement of the Tempe Town Lake dam on hold until the agency can feel confident the new dam will be safe.
Michael Johnson, assistant director and chief engineer of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said Tempe must give the department a plan for investigating the cause of the dam's failure and an updated timeline for construction of a new dam on the west side of the lake. The city agreed to do so.
Johnson said his agency might allow construction to begin before the investigation is complete if it feels confident that the new dam will be secure. Johnson was part of a team of more than a dozen experts who inspected the broken dam Tuesday along with Tempe city officials. He noted it was fortunate that nobody was killed when the dam that had been deteriorating for years burst.
"Dam failure can lead to injury, loss of life and property and infrastructure damage downstream. Our job is to prevent those things from happening," he said.
He would not speculate on whether the decision to put construction on hold would affect the city's goal of reopening Town Lake by November. He said Tempe officials told him they would submit a plan for the investigation and construction within a few days.
The Tuesday inspection and a meeting that followed were attended by several entities that have a stake in the dam.
Representatives from PCL Construction Inc., the company that was contracted to replace the dam, were present. Also attending were engineers from Bridgestone Industrial Products Inc., the manufacturer of the dam that ruptured and the replacement dam; and officials from Stantec Consulting, the engineering and construction consultant for the dam replacement.
Among the Tempe officials inspecting the deflated rubber dam was Assistant City Manager Jeff Kulaga.
Johnson said everyone at the site was acutely aware that the timing of the dam rupture, which failed at 9:46 p.m. on July 20, saved lives.
When the dam burst, an explosion of rubber could be heard, emergency-warning sirens sounded and water hurled west down the Salt River bed. Had it ruptured the next morning, when the state water agency had approved Tempe sending teams of workers to the west wall of the dam to begin replacing the deteriorating rubber dams, someone likely would have been killed, officials have agreed. "I think the timing was fortunate . . . it could have been a whole different situation," said Don Darden, a Bridgestone spokesman.
Tempe had planned to replace the deteriorating dam that failed with a new set of four rubber dams on loan from Bridgestone. Within five years, as per a legal agreement with Bridgestone, Tempe would remove the temporary dam and install a permanent one.
Despite the setback, Kulaga said Tempe still hopes to have the new dam in place and the lake filled by November in time for the Ford Ironman Arizona triathlon and other activities hosted at the lake that attract much-needed tourism dollars for the cash-strapped city.
"We look forward to cooperating with (the state agency) with regard to safety of the dam and the water resources involved," he said. "I think based on our meeting, we can confidently move toward that (November) timeline."
Johnson said the officials attending Tuesday's meeting understood that meeting that goal of restoring Town Lake depends on how quickly the investigation into the dam failure unfolds.
"I think everybody's on the same page about safety," he said.
Johnson said no one would know for certain why the dam failed until its sections are moved to a warehouse for closer inspection.
Darden said Bridgestone hopes Tempe will allow the company's engineers to analyze the ruptured dam.
"It will need a thorough investigation, and certainly we want to be a part of that," he said.
While the officials and experts walked the dam wreckage Tuesday, Bill Curry, a retired Tempe resident who walks the lake almost daily, peered down at them. He hoped that the groups involved in restoring Town Lake don't get sidetracked.
"My worry is that politics and the lawyers that are going to come into this . . . don't interfere with getting the lake back up," he said. "I watched them build it. I want to see it filled again."
Tempe gets OK to start replacing dam
by Dianna M. Náñez - Jul. 31, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Tempe has been given permission to begin replacing the Town Lake dam that burst July 20, draining the lake of nearly 1 billion gallons of water.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources had put construction on hold following the dam's failure. The agency, which is charged with Arizona's non- federal dam safety, required Tempe to submit an updated construction schedule and outline its investigation into what caused the dam to rupture.
The agency wanted to ensure that the reconstructed dam would be safe and that such a failure would not happen again. Tempe sent the agency a letter Thursday with the new construction schedule indicating repairs could be done much more quickly now that the lake is empty. The city hopes to have the work done in time for the lake to reopen in November.
In the letter, Tempe acknowledged it wants to restore the dam with new rubber bladders, which use the same technology as the one that burst, but stated city officials are certain that the "new replacement bladders will be effective."
Michael Johnson, an assistant director with the state water agency, said Friday that Tempe has selected "an independent third party to investigate" the dam failure.
The forensic investigation will cost $45,000 to $50,000, Tempe's Assistant City Manager Jeff Kulaga said. The city will split the cost with Bridgestone Industrial Products Inc., the dam's manufacturer.
Late Friday, Johnson sent Tempe a letter approving the construction. Johnson said his agency would monitor construction and review the investigation. Kulaga said Tempe expects to have the results of the investigation by September.
Johnson said Tempe has been cooperative with the agency's requests. "We think the construction and the investigation can occur in parallel," he said.
Kulaga said Tempe hopes to begin refilling the lake by mid-October and have it filled by Nov. 1.
Johnson said Tempe has assured his agency it will incorporate any safety recommendations, which could result from the investigation, into the new dam.
"The city understands that there may be operational changes that will come out of the investigation that need to be taken care of to help ensure that something like this (dam failure) doesn't happen again," he said.
Tempe's letter acknowledged the city wants to install new bladders before the results of the investigation are complete.
"We understand that we are proceeding without full knowledge of what caused the rupture. Nonetheless, we are confident that the new replacement bladders will be effective," the letter stated.
Tempe added that features planned for the new dam will protect the dam from sun damage, which was thought to be causing deterioration of the four rubber bladders that make up the lake's west-end dam. A pedestrian bridge will be built over the dam to provide shade, a sprinkler system will keep the rubber wet, and the new bladders will operate with 20 percent less pressure than the original ones.
"Lastly, it is equally important to note that the original bladders functioned for approximately 11 years. . . . The new bladders will be in place for only five years," the letter stated.
The new dam components are being provided by Bridgestone as part of a legal agreement with Tempe. Within five years, Tempe must fund a permanent replacement.
SEA Limited, an Ohio-based company, will handle the investigation. The bladder that burst will be shipped to Ohio, where the company will conduct its forensic study.
Tempe rulers lied to us about Tempe Town Toilet! Of course the royal rulers and government tyrants that run the Tempe city council think they are above the law.
Tempe lacked OK in January to repair dam
by Dianna M. Náñez - Aug. 1, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Tempe's repeated assertion that a severe storm prevented the city from beginning repairs on the deteriorating Town Lake dam in January was only half the story, public documents show.
The city did not get permission from the Arizona Department of Water Resources to proceed with the repairs until March 25, almost two months after the storm, according to reports provided to The Arizona Republic under a public-records request.
Responding to information in the documents, Tempe officials acknowledged Friday that they could not have started working on the dam in January, regardless of the storm.
But Assistant City Manager Jeff Kulaga and City Engineer Andy Goh said the city's contractor was prepared in January to begin work on a construction-staging area near the dam, had it not been for the rain.
Before the records were released, it appeared the storm was the only reason for delaying the dam's replacement until July 21, the morning after the dam burst, emptying the lake and sending almost a billion gallons of water into the Salt River. Work had been scheduled to start hours after the dam broke.
Since early this year, Tempe officials have blamed the January downpour, Arizona's worst winter storm in 17 years, for delaying replacement of the four rubber bladders that make up Town Lake's west-end dam. The dams were to be replaced because inspections dating to at least 2006 showed that sun damage was causing the rubber to deteriorate faster than expected.
An Arizona Republic review of public records shows that Tempe did not submit its application to the Arizona Department of Water Resources to begin construction on the dam until Feb. 17, almost four weeks after the severe storm. The state agency is charged with Arizona's non-federal dam safety.
The agency did not approve the application until March 25.
Michael Johnson, an assistant director for the agency, said Thursday that Tempe could not have replaced the dams without the approved application. "The approval of the application is the approval of construction," he said.
Kulaga and Goh said that on Dec. 17, Tempe did give its contractor permission to begin "prep work" on a staging area near the lake and to ready a cofferdam that would have allowed Town Lake to remain filled while the new bladders were installed. That work was to begin in January, Kulaga said, but "Mother Nature" got in the way.
In response to January's storms, Tempe monitored the lake's water levels from Jan. 19-22, lowering the bladders to allow water to flow west into the dry Salt River bed and prevent flooding. The bladders were back up Jan. 23. But runoff from upstream caused water to continue flowing over the west dam through May 27, preventing construction workers from entering the area, Kulaga said.
Kulaga said Tempe then had to wait for the riverbed to dry out before building an access road to the construction site, making it impossible to begin construction before July 21.
Kulaga and Goh stressed Friday that even if Tempe had its permit to start work on the dam in January, Bridgestone Industrial Products Inc. - which manufactured the original bladders as well as the replacements - had advised the city to replace the four west-end rubber bladders one by one according to which bladder had been previously patched because of a leak. The bladder that burst had an air leak and bulge, but the damage was never considered serious enough to patch. It was scheduled to be replaced this summer.
Kulaga said Tempe will begin construction on the dam this week, barring bad weather.
"We expect to have the lake filled by Nov. 1," he said.
City of Tempe says it will keep all its promises for corporate welfare on Tempe Town Toilet - "Tempe officials say they have no choice but to honor their long-term contractual commitments for the lake and to the commercial and residential developments around it. The city made deals with private developers who built a hotel, offices and condominiums with the assurance that their properties would have lakefront views."
Tempe weighs options to replace broken dam
by Dianna M. Náñez - Aug. 4, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
As Tempe rushes to reopen Town Lake in November, the city is already working on finding a more durable, long-term replacement for the rubber dam that broke after deteriorating in the desert sun.
The cash-strapped city is considering three long-term solutions that could cost as much as $84 million and provide a dam that potentially could last up to 60 years.
Whatever the price, Tempe officials say they have no choice but to honor their long-term contractual commitments for the lake and to the commercial and residential developments around it. The city made deals with private developers who built a hotel, offices and condominiums with the assurance that their properties would have lakefront views.
Bridgestone Industrial Products Inc., the dam's manufacturer, is installing a temporary dam, at a cost of up to $3 million, to replace the one that failed on July 20, draining the lake and sending almost a billion gallons of water into the Salt River. The dam is on loan from Bridgestone for five years in an agreement that buys Tempe time. But city officials acknowledged this week that they face a tight deadline on the much bigger task.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Kulaga and a city engineer told The Republic on Monday that it will take the full five years to complete the necessary studies for a new dam, obtain permits and complete construction.
City officials are preparing to hire a consultant to review three potential options identified in a 2008 study.
The options include an all-rubber dam made by Sumitomo Tires Inc. at a long-term cost of $84 million and estimated to last 15 years; an Obermeyer hinged-crest-gate dam that incorporates a rubber bladder and steel at a cost of $47.2 million that would last 30 to 60 years; and a steel-hinged, crest-gate dam that does not use rubber bladders, costing $52.8 million with a life expectancy of 60 years.
Those estimates include annual operations and maintenance as well as construction costs.
Despite previous problems with a rubber dam, Tempe has not ruled out the Sumitomo option.
"All options are on the table," Kulaga said.
It will take several months to choose and more than a year to do preliminary work that includes designing the project.
Construction would take another three years, Kulaga said, during which time a temporary barrier would keep the lake full.
Short-term strategy
Tempe is still aiming to refill the lake by Nov. 1 in time for the Ford Ironman Arizona triathlon, which brings thousands of athletes and tourists to the Valley.
Town Lake has become one of the state's most visited attractions. The longer the lake is empty, the greater risk that groups that pay to host marathons, concerts and other recreational events on the lake's shores will cancel their bookings.
That could be crippling for Tempe, which for the first time in its 115-year history laid off workers this year.
Tempe was so keen to start replacing the dams that, last week, city officials asked the state agency charged with non-federal dam safety for permission to install temporary rubber dams despite a lack of knowledge of what caused the original rubber dam to rupture July 20. In a letter to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, city officials acknowledged that they do not expect the results of an estimated $50,000 forensic investigation into the dam's failure until September.
But Tempe officials reasoned that the original dam lasted 11 years and the replacement dams would be in for only five years. The city also is building a pedestrian bridge over the west-side dam that will provide shade and is attaching a sprinkler to keep the rubber cool.
On Friday, the state Department of Water Resources gave Tempe approval to proceed on the temporary dam. Work has begun to remove the 40-ton bladders that make up the Town Lake dam. Two of the four bladders are ready to be installed. The third is being shipped from Japan, and a fourth is being manufactured there.
Tempe wants to begin filling the lake by mid-October, which it estimates will cost $250,000 to $300,000.
A national problem
Last month, other dams broke in Iowa and South Dakota. The details of the failures vary. But Ron Corso, a Virginia engineer who specializes in dam safety and is a spokesman for the United States Society on Dams, said the Tempe and Iowa dams are like many of the nation's dams, which have been deteriorating for years.
Corso and other experts were so concerned about the aging condition of the nation's dams that they wrote a report two years ago urging federal and state officials to invest in repairs.
"For many cities, it's a budget issue. Are you going to pay for a dam, for a street or a program that helps people? It's not an easy choice. But I think people are starting to realize it's going to cost a lot more to replace than if you would have maintained it," he said.
Corso noted the hefty costs associated with rebuilding a dam, repairing damaged property when a dam fails and the impact on wildlife or water resources.
But his biggest concern is loss of life.
Teams of construction workers were scheduled to begin replacing the deteriorating Town Lake dams the morning after the rupture.
Corso said he hopes cities will learn from the recent failures and make dam repairs a priority.
"When there's a loss of life in an incident like that, there's nowhere you can hide," Corso said.
"The lawsuits will come flying out from everywhere, and the tragedy is that the people are gone."
He said he is surprised Tempe waited so long to replace the deteriorating dam.
"Once they (rubber dams) start deteriorating, it moves fairly quickly. It's not something you can take your good old time looking at," he said.
Although rubber dams have improved since hitting the market in the past couple of decades, Corso said it is common knowledge in the dam industry that rubber deterioration is a problem.
He couldn't speculate on how long the new rubber dams might last.
"What I can say is the more substantial the dam is, the longer it will last. Concrete in a place like Arizona will last forever," he said. "The steel-hinged gate seems like a good option for that kind of lake."
Before Tempe can proceed with one of the long-term options, it must get approval from the state water department.
Michael Johnson, an assistant director with the agency, said he doesn't foresee any of the three options presenting problems that would cause flooding or prevent water from flowing through the Salt River channel when it rains or upstream lakes release water.
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More on this topic
Town Lake costs
Short-term dam replacement
$3 million: Construction cost.
5 years: Duration of temporary dam.
Long-term dam
$47 million to $84 million: Estimated total cost.
15 to 60 years: Life expectancy of long-term dam.
Source: City of Tempe
Long-term dam options
Sumitomo rubber dam:
• Would require four sections with heights up to 8 feet
• Similar technology to the current Bridgestone replacement inflatable rubber dam
• Initial construction costs, $19.6 million
• Project soft costs (design, construction management, etc.), $4.9 million
• Total operations and maintenance costs converted to 2008 value: $818,000
• Total replacement costs converted to 2008 value: $58.7 million
• Total construction and maintenance costs converted to 2008 value: $84 million
• Life expectancy: 15 years (URS estimate, not vendor)
• Vendor warranty: 3 years
Obermeyer hinged-crest gates dam:
• Would require eight sections with heights up to 16 feet
• Incorporates a steel gate and inflatable rubber bladder
• Initial construction costs, $20.1 million
• Project soft costs (design, construction management, etc.), $5 million
• Total operations and maintenance costs converted to 2008 value: $888,000
• Total replacement costs converted to 2008 value: $21.1 million
• Total costs converted to 2008 value: $47.2 million
• Life expectancy: 30 to 60 years (vendor estimate)
• Vendor warranty: 5 years
Steel-hinged crest gates dam:
• Would require eight sections with heights up to 18 feet, including the largest in the United States (100 feet by 18 feet)
• Incorporates a hydraulic steel-hinged gate
• Initial construction costs, $29 million
• Project soft costs (design, construction management, etc.), $7.2 million
• Total operations and maintenance costs converted to 2008 value: $1.1 million
• Total replacement costs converted to 2008 value: $15.5 million
• Total costs converted to 2008 value: $52.8 million
• Life expectancy: 60 years (vendor estimate)
• Vendor warranty: 2 years
The study does not include costs that could result from having to build around a pedestrian bridge that Tempe is constructing above the west-end dam.
Source: 2008 consultant study done by URS Corporation
$50,000 to refill Tempe Town Toilet? Wow!
Source
Roosevelt Lake water to refill Tempe Town Lake
Posted: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 6:51 am
The Associated Press
After dam repairs are finished, the now-empty Tempe Town Lake will be filled from water from Roosevelt Lake northeast of the Phoenix area.
The cost of refilling the 977-million-gallon Tempe Town Lake, which emptied after the dam burst July 20, will be just under $50,000.
That amount is based on the Salt River Project's water transportation charge of $16.77 per acre-foot. There is no charge for the actual water.
Because Tempe has joined in funding modifications to the Roosevelt Dam in the mid-1990s, the city now gets 5 percent of the water stored in the dam's additional capacity.
Three of the four bladders that make up Tempe Town Lake are set to be lowered into place Thursday morning, and the fourth bladder is set to arrive in October.
Photos of Tempe Town Toilet after it was flushed
Here are some photos of Tempe Town Lake after it was flushed when the dam burst!
Tempe Town Lake can be refilled with stored water
But conservationists decry use of resource
by Dianna M. Náñez - Aug. 20, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Money that Tempe invested years ago in increasing water storage at Roosevelt Lake could save the cash-strapped city hundreds of thousands of dollars to refill Town Lake.
But the bargain isn't swaying conservationists, who say water is too valuable of a natural resource for Arizonans enduring a record drought to expend on rebuilding a massive artificial lake in the desert.
Tempe is estimating it will pay $50,000 to refill Town Lake with Roosevelt Lake water, compared with the $383,000 the city would have paid if it had to purchase water from the Central Arizona Project, which draws water from the Colorado River. Tempe used CAP water at a cost of about $250,000 to fill Town Lake when it was built 10 years ago.
The savings result from Tempe's decision to join a coalition of Valley cities that funded an expansion of Roosevelt Dam in 1996. In exchange for the investment, Tempe has rights to Salt River surface water, which feeds Roosevelt Lake, when the reservoir fills beyond the storage capacity that was available before the expansion.
Winter rains in recent years have boosted Roosevelt Lake's levels, securing Tempe a share of about 13,500 acre-feet of water as of June. Tempe officials estimate the volume of water required to refill Town Lake is 2,500 to 3,000 acre-feet, or as much as 977.6 million gallons. Fees that Tempe pays to transport the water from Roosevelt Lake would be the only charges for the water.
Still, critics warn that water levels at Roosevelt Lake and other Salt River Project reservoirs are vulnerable to the desert's dry seasons. It took nearly 10 years before the water in Roosevelt surpassed the original storage capacity. As recently as 2002, a dry winter produced the sparsest spring runoff from mountain streams and rivers in more than 120 years, resulting in rationing from reservoirs such as Roosevelt that supply drinking water for the Valley.
Tempe has a plan to ensure sufficient water for municipal users in the event of a prolonged drought, said Eric Kamienski, Tempe's water-resource manager. He also noted that the amount of water proposed for the Town Lake refill amounts to about 1 percent of the water currently stored in the expanded Roosevelt storage capacity.
If Tempe chose not to refill Town Lake, the city could continue to store water for future use in Roosevelt Lake or in the East Salt River Valley aquifer through several groundwater recharge projects. The water also could be delivered to Tempe's two water-treatment plants as it has been for drinking water or other municipal uses.
Conservationists say Tempe has a responsibility to all Arizonans to hold hearings on whether such a large amount of water should be used to rebuild a recreational lake.
Town Lake is being rebuilt after a dam burst July 20, thrusting nearly a billion gallons of water into the dry Salt River bed. Tempe expects to begin refilling the lake in mid-October and fill it completely by Nov. 1 in time for the Ford Ironman Arizona triathlon.
City leaders say the value of rebuilding Town Lake is evident to the millions of annual visitors who make the lake one of the state's most popular attractions. Last year, Town Lake was the second most visited destination in Arizona. Tourism officials say the lake's steady stream of out-of-town visitors spur the state's economy, bringing much-needed tax revenue. [They are lying about why people visit Tempe Town Toilet! People go to Tempe Town Lake for the rock concerts the City of Tempe holds in the park, not to fish or swim in the town toilet]
Although Tempe has the rights to the stored Roosevelt water, some conservationists and Valley residents say the dam's failure provides an opportunity for Arizonans to reflect on how to best use such a scarce natural resource. Nearly a billion gallons of water were lost when the dam failed.
When construction on Town Lake began in 1997, Arizona's longstanding drought was in its infancy. Although water at Lake Roosevelt is flush now, it took more than 10 years to build that storage capacity and it can fall swiftly, said Yvonne Reinink, a senior engineer with SRP water-resource operations. SRP monitors reservoirs' capacity and implements rationing when water falls below certain levels.
"If we don't have enough water in the reservoir, then we have to encourage conservation," she said. "The drought started in 1996, but one of the driest years on record in recent years was 2002, when reservoirs got very low and we had to reduce our allocation to keep enough water in storage."
That dry season resulted in mandatory rationing for cities and agriculture in 2003 and 2004.
Given the region's reliance on water, Tempe officials have a responsibility to schedule public hearings on whether Town Lake should be refilled, said Michelle Harrington, executive director of Arizona Rivers, which advocates for the free flow and protection of the Salt and other Arizona rivers' natural ecosystems.
"I can certainly see that it being a fixture of theirs for the past decade that they would want to refill the lake. But we really need to talk about what the best use of our water supply is," she said. Conservationists have long been opposed to Town Lake and other Arizona man-made lakes.
"We always thought it would have made more sense for Tempe to do something like Phoenix along the Salt River and make it more of a riparian area, which it would have been naturally, instead of this big lake where you get a lot more evaporation . . . and problems with mosquitoes," said Sandy Bahr, director of the Arizona Sierra Club chapter.
Bahr's biggest criticism of Town Lake is that it sets a bad example for other water users. "I think it's important to mention the kind of message a big lake like that sends. It gives the impression of abundance. If you're in a desert, the city, the community leaders should be sending the opposite message - that water is important and we need to be conserving it."
This week, Tempe City Manager Charlie Meyer told The Arizona Republic that the city is backing the rebuilding of Town Lake because it is has become an invaluable state destination and defining Valley attraction.
Town Lake is a "value not to just Tempe . . . it's an amenity for the whole state," he said. [What a lie! The mail value of Tempe Town Toilet is the revenue the city of Tempe raises by holding rock concerts in the park]
Republic reporter Shaun McKinnon contributed to this article.
Tempe not bound to Town Lake upkeep
Aug. 20, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Although Tempe officials have stressed that the city has a commitment to the businesses that built on the lake, this week City Manager Charlie Meyer said the commitment is not backed by a legal agreement to maintain the lake.
Tempe, and to a lesser extent, private developers on Town Lake, pay into a fund to operate and maintain the lake and the surrounding area, which the city has designated its Rio Salado Community Facilities District. Although the lake is essential to Tempe, if the city could no longer maintain the body of water, Meyer said the fees to facilitate the district would decrease and the city would lower the private developers' fees accordingly.
However, he said, the city is backing the rebuilding of Town Lake because it has become an invaluable state destination and defining Valley attraction that generates tax-revenue for the region.
Town Lake is a "value not to just Tempe . . . it's an amenity for the whole state," he said.
In 2009, Town Lake, with 2,615,00 visitors was the second most-visited attraction in the state, according to the Arizona Office of Tourism, which annually collects self-reported data from state attractions. Town Lake visitation was second only to the Grand Canyon, which had 4,348,025 visitors.
