Twin Lakes Dam (National ID # CO02045) is a dam in

Lake County, Colorado Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,436. The county seat and the only municipality in the county is Leadville. The highest natural point in Colorado and the entire Rocky ...

, about south of

Leadville Leadville ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorado, Lak ...

. The earthen dam was constructed in 1978 by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and operatio ...

with a height of and a length at its crest of . The dam is owned and operated by the Bureau as one element of its larger "transbasin" Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which transfers available water from Colorado's West Slope across the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

to the more arid, and more populated, East Slope. The reservoir it creates, Twin Lakes, is an enlargement of a natural glacial lake. It has a surface area of and a maximum capacity of . Recreation includes boating, fishing for trout, and camping at five Forest Service campgrounds in the area (Dexter, Lakeview, Parry Peak, Twin Peaks and White Star).

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*, the first Twin Lakes Dam (1898-1989) {{authority control Dams in Colorado Reservoirs in Colorado United States Bureau of Reclamation dams Buildings and structures in Lake County, Colorado Dams completed in 1978 Historic American Engineering Record in Colorado Bodies of water of Lake County, Colorado 1978 establishments in Colorado