TEMPE, Ariz. -
If you spent some time at Tempe Town Lake in the last couple weeks, there's a good chance you may have seen at least one of the thousands of dead fish in the lake.
The beauty of Tempe Town Lake has been overshadowed the past few days as dead tilapia rose to the surface. It was all due to the cold spell that passed through the valley last month.
"Some live in Town Lake, a lot live upstream from Town Lake and they can't tolerate water levels below 55, and our lake water was 46 for a few days so a large number of them died," says Amanda Nelson, City of Tempe Parks Dept.
City of Tempe says its workers have discovered 2,000 to 4,000 dead fish rising to the top of Tempe Town Lake just in the last 2 weeks.
"They're cleaning up the dead fish quickly enough and because the temps are pretty low it means there's no toxicity and no issue with the fish impacting the water quality."
The city of Tempe brought in a company to test the water every day the last few weeks. It says the water levels tested fine.
Friday, most of the fish were removed, though you still may see a few around the lake.
"You might see a few here and there, maybe lodged under a dock, and they get freed and then they float up," says Nelson.
The cleanup process will continue for a few more days.
The city tests the lake every week to check on levels to make sure the water is safe for animals and people.
