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Tempe Town Lake is an artificial lake that occupies a portion of the normally dry riverbed of the Salt River as it passes through the city of Tempe, Arizona.
History
In March of 1989, Tempe adopted the Rio Salado Master Plan which represented the culmination of more than 20 years of environmental land planning. Studies of water quality and usage, the Mill Avenue Bridge and ASU recreation ensued and programming began. A groundbreaking ceremony near Tempe Beach Park marked the beginning of construction of the river channelization. The Rio Salado Master Plan showed a Town Lake concept with a continuous body of water between the north and south shores. Previously, the lake concept included islands; this concept was modified to meet the flow capacity of the river channel.
In 1995, the City added more staff to the team dedicated to the Rio Salado project and began construction of a mile long bike path along the south bank of the river. The path features public art at a number of spots along the way. The city began the Town Lake design report and completed another financial capacity study and landscape designs for portions of the parks.
In 1996 the consultant completed construction drawings for the Tempe Town Lake and the City designated 800 acres of area including the lake as Rio Salado Park.
On March 19, 1997 requests for bids were sent out for the lake construction. The City awarded contacts for constuction of the lake on June 12, and groundbreaking ceremonies were held on August 8.
Water from the Central Arizona Project started flowing into Tempe Town Lake on June 2, 1999. By July 14, the lake was declared full, and on November 7, Tempe Town Lake was opened to the public.
Tempe Beach Park
Originally built in 1931, Tempe Beach Park was completely renovated in 1999 as part of the construction of Town Lake. The park connects to the 5 miles of paths for bicycling, jogging or in-line skating that circle Town Lake.
Activities
The historic baseball field plays host to baseball and softball games, as well as carnival games.In 2002, the $1.3 million Splash Playground was opened. The one-acre playground is both a way for kids to have fun in the water, and to learn about the water cycle. Only about two inches of water will pool in parts of the park. The water is kept flowing across the playground, where it is eventually collected, filtered, cleaned, and re-circulated in a state-of-the-art system.
The amphitheatre accomodates 5,000 people for concerts or outdoor trade shows.
Rio Salado Cruise Company operates its boat concession out of the beach park.
Events
Annual events at Tempe Beach Park include the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl New Year's Eve Block Party, Oktoberfest, APS Fantasy of Lights, Fourth of July fireworks show, and AVP Pro Beach Volleyball.Description
The lake was completed in 1999, using inflatable rubber barriers in the riverbed to confine water within its boundaries. It is nearly 3 km (2 mi) long, with an average surface area of 910,000 m² (224 acres), and an average depth of 4 m (13 ft), for a total average volume of 3,590,000 cubic metres (2912 acre-feet). The maximum depth of the lake reaches 6 m (19 ft).
The lake was initially filled with 3.8 million m³ (3065 acre-feet) of water purchased from the Central Arizona Project. Evaporative and other losses (about 6400 m³ or 5.2 acre-feet per day) are compensated through additional purchase of CAP water, exchanges of reclaimed water, and long-term storage credits. Seepage losses are virtually nil, thanks to a system that recaptures virtually all seepage and pumps it back into the lake.
A park surrounds the area, along with an office building. The lake is used for practice by the ASU rowing team. The lake has fishing, boating (by permit and by day rental which can be purchased at the Rio Salado Operations Center), and an excursion cruise, the “Rio Salado Cruise.” The lake also hosts a small marina on the northern shore. Tempe Beach Park is home to several major annual events including Tempe's yearly Independence Day Celebrations and the Tempe Music Festival.
Fishing
Tempe Town Lake is stocked with largemouth bass, crappie, sunfish, tilapia, carp, and channel catfish in the summer, and rainbow trout in the winter. An Arizona fishing license is required to fish in Tempe Town Lake. The lake is stocked numerous times throughout the year.
The Dams
The dams are made up of three main elements:
- a strong, flexible, rubber coated fabric tube which is fixed securely to a concrete base slab by clamping bars and anchor bolts
- an operating system which controls inflation and deflation of the tube
- an automatic safety device which ensures tube deflation in flood situations.
Each section of dam, or bladder, is about 240 feet long, weighs 40 tons and is more than one inch thick. At times, a small amount of water can be seen flowing over the top of the west dams, creating a 19-foot waterfall. This water can be recaptured by a recirculation system and pumped back into the lake.
The east dams are five feet high and sit on a two-foot cement base. The west dams are 16 feet high and sit on a three-foot base.
Tempe's dams are computer controlled and maintain air pressure of six pounds per square inch. They can be controlled individually to within a half inch and can be lowered incrementally depending on the flood conditions.
Notable water releases
The riverbed of the Salt River at Phoenix is normally dry, with the river's flow being entirely diverted to agricultural and other uses upriver. The Tempe Town Lake uses artificial structures and the natural riverbed to form a lake. In periods of high runoff, the inflatable dams confining the lake must be lowered to permit the passage of the Salt River itself.
For the first time since its construction the 1.5-metre (5 ft) eastern dam was lowered, on December 31, 2004. Heavy rains in the Salt River watershed required the release of 570 m³/s (20,000 ft³/s) of runoff into the Salt River. The dams are designed to handle a maximum flow of 1800 m³/s (65,000 ft³/s).
On February 13, 2005, the western dam was lowered from 5 to 0.5 m (16 to 1.5 ft) due to increasing water flow from storms.
Town Lake Bridge
The Valley Metro Light Rail project will be building another bridge over the Tempe Town Lake, starting in the first quarter of 2005. The overall project will be completed in 2008.
Awards*
International
- City of Stockholm sponsored Global Bangemann Challenge - Finalist (2000)
National
- James C. Howland Awards for Urban Enrichment, Gold winner
- The American Public Works Association Structures Project of the Year
- The United States Conference of Mayors Outstanding Achievement Award in the Public/Private Partnership Award Program (Joint submission with CH2M Hill) (2000)
- Joint Center for Sustainable Communities Award
- American Planning Association Economic Development Planning Award
State
- Arizona Planning Association
- Arizona Parks and Recreation Association
- Arizona Parks and Recreation Association
- Arizona Consulting Engineers Association
- Arizona Community Tree Council
External links
"Tempe Town Lake"