One of the four huge rubber bladders holding back Tempe Town Lake’s water has ruptured, allowing the lake water to spill. With millions of gallons of water spilling out of the rupture, the Tempe Town Lake is being drained very fast.

Tempe Town Lake was opened in year 1999 and holds about a billion gallons of water. The water was held back by a dam formed by the large rubber bladders. Last year officials reported that the Tempe administration was working on the replacement of the bladders as they were reaching their calculated life limit.

The construction work was in progress but the speed of the replacement work was slow because of the upstream water flows. Last night around 10 pm, four large bladders which formed the west part of the Tempe Town Lake dam ruptured and failed to work.

It’s projected that most of the Tempe Town Lake’s water will be lost due to the breach. Because of the leakage, some parts of the lake may be left with only three feet of water. The average depth of the Tempe Town Lake is about 16 feet. The peak flow from the lake was about 15,000 cubic feet in a second. The wasted water is sent towards the dry bed of Salt River in the west of the Tempe Town Lake dam.

The Tempe city administration is working to rectify the situation. Bridgestone, the manufacturers of the rubber bladders, is investigating into the breach of bladders at Tempe Town Lake.

Tempe Town Lake is officially closed to public now until further notice.

Tempe Town Lake