Tempe has selected a candidate for a design consultant position, who will head a project to permanently replace the West dam of Tempe Town Lake.
If approved by the city council in their June 16 meeting, Tempe will work with Gannett Fleming, Inc. to begin the first phase of replacing the West dam of the lake, according to city documents. The first phase will include developing an alternative dam system to permanently replace the rubber bladders that have been part of the lake since it was first built.
According to city council meeting documents, Gannett Fleming was selected as the “most qualified firm” for consultation, and will work to select the “best value” option to replace the dam while still making sure the replacement is reliable.
Tempe Town Lake, which was dedicated in late 1999, has been the home to many events and recreational activities, including the Ford Ironman Arizona triathlon and the 4th of July Tempe Town Lake Festival.
The West end dam of the lake has been a point of contention for the city in recent years, most recently with the rupture of one of the rubber bladders in July 2010.
The burst of the West dam caused about 1 billion gallons of water to drain into the Salt River bed, and caused the lake to be dry until the city received approval from the Arizona Department of Water Resources in October 2010 to refill the lake. The lake was reopened in November that year.
Rubber bladders were originally chosen to create the West dam due to their ability to deflate and inflate quickly in case of a flood or other event. According to the city of Tempe, the original planned life span of the bladders was supposed to by 25 to 30 years. However, the bladders started to deteriorate more quickly than expected, and in 2002, two of the bladders had already been patched.
Tempe and Bridgestone Industrial Products, the company that manufactured the rubber bladders, argued over whose fault the dam burst was. Eventually, the cause for the burst of the bladders was found to have been prolonged exposure to heat and sun, according to an examination commissioned by Tempe and Bridgestone.
The rubber bladders were replaced in order to reopen the lake under an agreement between Bridgestone and Tempe, but part of their agreement is that Tempe must comply with a set project schedule to remove the bladders and return them to Bridgestone by December 2015.
Tempe City Council will vote on the proposed consultant and their plan at their formal council meeting 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Tempe City Hall.
Reach the reporter at katherine.torres@asu.edu
