Location
El Vado Lake and Dam
El Vado Dam, located on the Rio Chama about 160 miles north of Albuquerque, was built by the conservancy district in 1934-1935 and was rehabilitated by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1954-1955. A new outlet works was built by Reclamation in 1965-1966 to accommodate the additional water from the San Juan-Chama Project. The dam embankment is of rolled gravel fill with a steel membrane on the upstream face. The dam is 230 feet high and has a crest length of 1,326 feet. The reservoir has a total capacity of 196,500 acre-feet.
Location Parent
State(s)
New Mexico
Unified Region(s)
Upper Colorado Basin
Reclamation Region(s) (Legacy)
Upper Colorado
Timezone
MT
Elevation
6,900 ft
Vertical Datum
EGM96
Coordinates (lat, long)
(36.5948, -106.7366)
Horizontal Datum
WGS84
