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Tempe Town Lake Dam Breaks (Video)

by Jordan Yerman | July 21, 2010 at 08:40 am

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Rubber Dam at Tempe Town Lake Breaks

One of the rubber dams at Tempe Town Lake has broken during the night of July 20. 700 million gallons of water have spilled through the compromised dam.

The water rushed into Salt River, a previously dry riverbed. The area is often home to transients during the summer months.

Tempe Town Lake is located just north of ASU Sun Devil Stadium, southeast of central Phoenix.

More info on Tempe Town Lake's inflatable dams

Tempe had been working to replace the bladders for the the last year because they were determined to be reaching their life span earlier than anticipated. Bridgestone, the manufacturer of the bladders, had delivered two of the four replacement sections of the west dam. But the city and its contractor had been working to replace the sections but efforts were hampered in recent months by upstream water flows from snow melt and rain in other parts of the state.