Rio Grande dams and diversions are structures that store water along the Rio Grande or its tributaries, or that divert water for use in irrigation. The first diversions were made by the

Pueblo Indians The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Z ...

over 1,000 years ago. More permanent diversions were built by the Spanish in New Mexico to feed ''

acequia An acequia () or séquia () is a community-operated watercourse used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation. Particularly in Spain, the Andes, northern Mexico, and the modern-day American Southwest particularly n ...

s'', or shared irrigation canals. The first dam to impound the Rio Grande was the Rio Grande Dam, completed in 1914, followed by the

Elephant Butte Dam Elephant Butte Dam or Elephant Butte Dike, originally Engle Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. The dam impounds Elephant Butte Reservoir, which is used mainly for agriculture but also provides ...

, completed in 1916.

Projects

Several major projects have undertaken construction of dams and diversion in the Rio Grande basin. The Rio Grande Project built the

and the Caballo Dam. A number of diversion dams were also constructed in this project, including the Leasburg,

Percha Percha (; it, Perca ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about northeast of Bolzano. This Percha is not to be confused with Percha of the Federal Republic of Germany. Geography As of 31 December 2015, it h ...

, Mesilla, American and Riverside diversion dams. The

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1925 to manage the irrigation systems and control floods in the Albuquerque Basin. It is responsible for the stretch of river from the Cochiti Dam in Sandoval County in the north, thr ...

built

El Vado Dam El Vado Dam impounds the Rio Chama in the U.S. state of New Mexico, about north-northwest of New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque and about northwest of the capital city of Santa Fe. The earth-filled structure forms El Vado Lake, a storage r ...

and the Angostura,

Isleta Pueblo of Isleta ( tix, Shiewhibak , kjq, Dîiw'a'ane ; nv, Naatoohó ) is an unincorporated community and Tanoan pueblo in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States, originally established in the . The Southern Tiwa name of the pueblo ...

and San Acacia diversion dams. Rehabilitation of these dams, and construction of the

Cochiti Dam The Cochiti Dam is an earthen fill dam located on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County, New Mexico, approximately north of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. By volume of material, it is the 23rd largest dam in the world at 62,849,000 yd ...

were undertaken by the

Middle Rio Grande Project The Middle Rio Grande Project manages water in the Albuquerque Basin of New Mexico, United States. It includes major upgrades and extensions to the irrigation facilities built by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and modifications to the ...

. The San Juan-Chama Project brings water to the Rio Grande basin from the

Colorado River Basin The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

, building the

Heron Dam Heron Dam is a storage dam Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, just north of the El Vado Dam. It is owned and operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The dam is about 9 miles west of the town o ...

to store some of the water, with an expansion of the El Vado Dam storing some of the remainder. The

Closed Basin Project The Closed Basin Project is a groundwater extraction project in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, United States, that began in the 1970s, and remains in operation in the 2020s. The project is managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. L ...

extracts groundwater from the San Luis Valley and delivers it into the Rio Grande.

Pecos River

The Pecos River is the largest tributary of the Rio Grande, and several dams have been built along it. These include the Sumner Dam,

Santa Rosa Dam Santa Rosa Dam (National ID # NM00158) is a dam in Guadalupe County, New Mexico. The earthen dam was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, with a height of 214 feet and 1900 feet long at its crest. The uppermost major dam alon ...

, Brantley Dam, Avalon Dam and Red Bluff Dam.

List of structures

Structures include:

References

Citations Sources * * * {{Dams and reservoirs in US Rio Grande R R Rio Grande