New Mexico's Dams and Reservoirs

Who Built and Influenced the Dams?

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt influenced the building of many dams throughout the country when he enforced the New Deal. The New Deal was intended to create jobs and boost the employment rate.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers and the US Bureau of Reclamation also built many of the dams for recreation, irrigation, and flood control.

What are dams?

Major Dams and Reservoirs in New Mexico

A dam is a barrier, typically of

concrete, constructed to hold

back water and raise it's level.

The resulting reservoir is used

in the generation of electricity

or water supply.

• Heron Dam
• Jemez Canyon Dam
• Navajo Dam
• Santa Rosa Dam
• Ute Dam

• Abiquiu Dam
• Cochiti Dam
• Conchas Dam
• Elephant Butte
• El Vado Dam
• Galisteo Dam

Where Were The Dams Built?

What is a reservoir?

How many dams were built in ...

San Miguel County?

Sandoval County?

A reservoir is a lake or large

pool that is created when a

source of water is blocked.

Reservoirs are always man-

made bodies of water.

1 - Cochiti Dam

1 - Conchas Dam

Sierra County?

Santa Fe County?

1 - Elephant Butte

1 - Galisteo Dam

Guadalupe County?

San Juan County?

1 - Navajo Dam

1 - Santa Rosa Dam

By:

Melissa Teter

Rachel Reynolds

Faith Montaño

Quay County?

Bernalillo County?

1 - Ute Dam

1- Jemez Canyon Dam

Rio Arriba County?

4 - Heron, El Vado, Abiquiu, and Navajo

New Mexico's Dams and Reservoirs

Pros and Cons

Cons

Pros

• To catch enough water for a Hydroelectric power plant, large areas must be flooded.
• Disrupts natural processes and changes in the river.
• Expensive to build
• Sometimes aren't even worth the cost

• Dams and Reservoirs can store water and are helpful in droughts
• Provide source for hydroelectric power and irrigation
• Many different uses
• Inexpensive maintenance and care
• Few breakdowns

How Do You Build a Dam?

Averaging the 11 Major New Mexico Dams

4.8 years

How Long Does It Take To Build a Dam?

Stage 1: Excavate diversion tunnel and build coffer dams. The end of this stage is marked by the milestone of diverting the river through the diversion tunnel.

Stage 2: Strip dam foundation of overburden. Carry out foundation treatment and grouting. Excavate and haul fill construction materials from their sources and place and compact in the dam embankment. The end of this stage is marked by the milestone of closure of the diversion tunnel to start the storage of water in the dam reservoir. Excavation of the spillway will also be under way during this stage.

Stage 3: Complete outlet works, spillway and all other parts of dam project.

The End!

When Were They Built?

Elephant Butte (1911-1916)

Navajo Lake (1962)

Heron Dam (1970)

• Located in Rio Arriba county on San Juan River
• 1221 feet long, 269 feet high
• Owned and operated by US Bureau of Reclamation
• Earthen-filled dam
• Built for recreation, irrigation, fish and wildlife

• Concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande
• Part of the Rio Grande Project designed to provide power and irrigation to South Central New Mexico and West Texas
• Located in Sierra and Socorro Counties
• 301 feet tall, 1674 feet long; has 618,785 cubic yards of concrete
• Provides irrigation to 178,000 acres of land

• Located in San Juan County and Rio Arriba County, goes partly into Archuleta County in Colorado
• Earthen filled dam
• 3,800 feet long, 400 feet high
• 15,600 acre lake, 25 -35 miles long
• Construction of the dam flooded and destroyed one of the Navajos' most sacred sites

1973

1963

1939

1970

1962

1911 - 1916

Conchas Dam (1939)

Abiquiu Dam (1963)

Cochiti Dam (1973)

• Located on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County
• Built by USACE to control flooding and sediment on Rio Grande
• Maintains permanent recreation pool with 62,000,000 cubic meters of water
• Established and maintained by San Juan - Chama project
• By volume of material, it's the 23 largest dam in the world with 62,849,000 cubic yards of earth and rock

• In Rio Arriba county
• Built by United States Army Corps of Engineers
• Impounds water from Rio Chama
• 340 feet high, 1800 feet long
• Small hydroelectric power station at base of dam

• Built by United States Army Corps of Engineers
• Built on Canadian River in San Miguel County
• Concrete gravity dam
• 235 feet tall, 19,500 feet long
• Used mainly for irrigation and flood control

Works Cited

1. "New Mexico Office of the State Historian : Great Depression and New Deal in NM-1929."

New Mexico Office of the State Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

2. "Bureau of Reclamation: About Us." Bureau of Reclamation: About Us. US Department of

the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

3. "Missions." United States Army Corps of Engineers. United States Army Corps of

Engineers, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

4. "New Mexico State Parks." EMNRD State Parks Division. EMNRD State Parks Division,

n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

5. Woodward, Richard. "How Dams Are Built." The Dam Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013.