List of largest reservoirs in the United States on:
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This is a list of largest
This is a list of largest reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
s in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, including all artificial lakes with a capacity greater than or equal to . Figures given are for maximum storage capacity (flood pool) of reservoirs, not regular storage volume (conservation pool). This difference is significant in reservoirs such as Kentucky Lake
Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control and hydroelectric p ...
, whose full capacity is nearly three times that of its conservation pool.
Due to sedimentation
Sedimentation is the deposition of sediments. It takes place when particles in suspension settle out of the fluid in which they are entrained and come to rest against a barrier. This is due to their motion through the fluid in response to the ...
and other factors that affect a reservoir's storage capacity over time, some data listed might not accurately reflect actual current conditions in certain reservoirs. For example, Lake Mead
Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. ...
– the largest reservoir in the U.S. – could store more than 32.4 million acre-feet
The acre-foot is a non- SI unit of volume equal to about commonly used in the United States in reference to large-scale water resources, such as reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, sewer flow capacity, irrigation water, and river flows.
An acre-f ...
(40.1 km3) when first filled, but sediment accumulation has reduced this to 28.9 million acre-feet (35.7 km3).
List
Location map
See also
*List of reservoirs by volume
The classification of a reservoir by volume is not as straightforward as it may seem. As the name implies, water is held in reserve by a reservoir so it can serve a purpose. For example, in Thailand, reservoirs tend to store water from the wet sea ...
Notes
References
{{Dams and reservoirs in US * *