Reclamation Information Sharing Environment (RISE)

Construction of Cherry Creek Dam was completed in the early 1950s at the southeast edge of Denver in Aurora, Colo. Cherry Creek Lake, the reservoir behind the dam, lies on Cherry Creek at its confluence with Cottonwood Creek. The dam consists of an earthen embankment, an outlet structure for releasing stored water, and a spillway through which excess water can flow into the adjacent Toll Gate and Sand Creek drainage basins during times of extreme runoff from rain and snowmelt.