TEMPE, AZ — It's hard to wrap your head around the scale of how much water flowed through the Valley this week. New numbers from Salt River Project (SRP) put that historic runoff into perspective.
Flows on the Salt and Verde rivers were among the highest SRP has seen in decades as it released water downstream to manage its reservoirs.
But the bigger story is what SRP held on to — roughly 120 billion gallons, enough to fill about 182,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Stephen Flora, a senior hydrologist for Salt River Project, said such inflows in such a short period were 'huge.'
"In this event, we saw as much water flow into and through our reservoirs as we get on a normal winter, all winter," Flora said. "Just in a few days, we saw what we get all winter: January through May."
In just five days, SRP's reservoir system surged from 53% capacity to 70%.
Arizona's drought picture still comes down to snowpack, but this is a running start.
"We really rely on these types of years that help refill the system to get through those dry years like we've seen the last few years," Flora said.
As SRP draws back releases toward normal, the aftermath lingers at Tempe Town Lake. Murky water is slowly clearing, but not fast enough for the Women's Collegiate Triathlon National Championship, hosted by Arizona State University.
ASU said testing found water isn't safe for the swim leg of the race, so the event has shifted to a duathlon.
Tempe said the lake will remain closed to water activities, including boating and fishing, for now as E. coli is among the water quality concerns.
“Monthly water quality averages at Tempe Town Lake typically pass surface water standards with flying colors," Dr. Rick Amalfi of Aquatic Consulting said. "Runoff like this, especially record runoffs from two rivers, brings with it everything from upstream. It will take time for that water to pass and the bacteria level to reduce below the event threshold.”
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