Catalog Record
Heron Reservoir and Dam Water Operations Monitoring Data from Upper Colorado Hydrologic Database
Upper Colorado Region Water Operations Data for Heron Reservoir and Dam.
Generation Effort
Upper Colorado Water Operations Monitoring
Location
Heron Reservoir and Dam
Themes
Water
Reclamation Project
San Juan-Chama Project
Reclamation Program
Location Information
Location Name
Heron Reservoir and Dam
Location Description
Heron Dam is located on Willow Creek just above the point where Willow Creek enters the Rio Chama. The dam is an earthfill structure 269 feet high which forms a reservoir with a capacity of 401,320 acre-feet and a surface area of 5,950 acres. The spillway has a capacity of 660 cubic feet per second, and the outlet works has a capacity of 4,160 cubic feet per second Storage from Heron Dam provides water for municipal, domestic, industrial, recreation, and fish and wildlife purposes and provides supplemental water for irrigation. Heron Reservoir is operated by Reclamation in compliance with applicable federal and state laws, including the San Juan-Chama Project authorization and the Rio Grande and Colorado compacts. Under these laws, only imported San Juan-Chama Project water may be stored in Heron Reservoir; there are no provisions for storing native Rio Grande water. Thus, all native Rio Grande water is released to the river below Heron Dam. The outlet works for El Vado Dam, located 6 miles downstream of Heron Dam, were enlarged in 1965-1966 so that San Juan-Chama Project releases from Heron Reservoir could be passed unimpeded through El Vado Reservoir. The capacity of the outlet works is 6,600 cubic feet per second.
Location Parent
State(s)
New Mexico
Unified Region(s)
Upper Colorado Basin
Timezone
MT
Elevation
7,157 ft
Vertical Datum
EGM96
Coordinates (lat, long)
(36.6973, -106.6992)
Horizontal Datum
WGS84
