Arizona Falls Serves as Double Duty Waterfall
Arizona Falls near Indian School and 56th St. in Phoenix. Photo Credit: Sam Lowe
PHOENIX — Most waterfalls cascade across mountain faces or plummet into deep gorges, and they’re usually hard to reach. But there’s one in Phoenix that is not only readily accessible, it’s also an energy source.
Arizona Falls, located on the corner of Indian School Road and 56th Street in Phoenix, is a reconstruction of an earlier waterfall on the Arizona Canal, and is designed so runners, walkers, gawkers and falling-water fans can not only get up close, they can also walk underneath on a poetry-lined pathway. But it’s not there just to be pretty.
The display is also a hydroelectric plant, a renewable energy source that produces enough electrical power for about 150 homes. In addition, the site is a great place for joggers to renew their energy while listening to the comforting sounds.
Prior to its most recent incarnation, I was aware of this facility’s existence but assumed it was just related to the citrus orchards that are now the Arcadia district. I didn’t realize it was also an electric generator.
In reading a bit more about the history of the facility, I noticed that it was first refurbished in 1911. That is so close to the date when Roosevelt Dam (the U.S.’s first water reclamation project to be funded with federal dollars) was completed, I have to wonder if a refurbishing of the SRP canal system was part of that project. Or maybe it was just an interesting coincidence. 😉