Cochiti Dam | |
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Cochiti Dam from lake side
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Official name | Cochiti Dam |
Location | Cochiti Pueblo, Sandoval County, New Mexico, USA |
Coordinates | 35°36′39″N 106°18′48″W / 35.6107°N 106.3132°WCoordinates: 35°36′39″N 106°18′48″W / 35.6107°N 106.3132°W |
Construction began | 1965 |
Opening date | 1973 |
Operator(s) | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
Dam and spillways | |
Impounds | Rio Grande |
Height | 251 ft (76.5 m) |
Length | 29,040 ft (8,852 m) |
Width (base) | 1,760 ft (536.4 m) |
Reservoir | |
Creates | Cochiti Lake |
Total capacity | 718,019 acre feet (885,663,000 m3) |
Active capacity | 49,359 acre feet (60,883,000 m3) |
The Cochiti Dam is an earthen fill dam located on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County, New Mexico, approximately 50 miles (80 km) 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 yd3 (48,052,000 m3) of material, one of the ten largest such dams in the United States, and the eleventh largest such dam in the world. Cochiti Dam is one of the four United States Army Corps of Engineers projects for flood and sediment control on the Rio Grande system, operating in conjunction with Abiquiu Dam, Galisteo Dam and Jemez Canyon Dam.
Cochiti Dam is primarily a flood control dam built to ameliorate the effects of heavy runoff. The dam and the resultant lake also had the secondary purposes of creating recreational and wildlife habitat resources. The outlet works of the dam have an outflow capacity of 14,790 feet3/s (418.8 m3/s).
Cochiti Dam is operated to bypass all inflow to the lake to the extent that downstream channel conditions are capable of safely bypassing the flow. Flood-control operations are initiated when inflow to the lake is in excess of the downstream channel capacity. Stored floodwaters are released when downstream channel conditions permit, all in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 86-645 and the Rio Grande Compact.
Cochiti Dam marks the beginning of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD), Cochiti Division. It controls runoff water from an 11,695 square miles (30,290 km2) drainage area.
Cochiti Dam was authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1960 for a construction cost of US$94.4 million. The act was further amended in 1964 to allocate water resources for the development of fish and wildlife resources as well as recreational resources. 50,000 acre feet (62,000,000 m3) of water was allocated under this amendment for initial pool fill and sufficient resources were allocated to offset annual evaporation losses. This water was to come from water previously diverted into the Rio Grande system by Public Law 87-843 of 1962 from water in the Colorado River basin via the San Juan-Chama Project across the Continental Divide.