The Madden Dam, completed in 1935, impounds the Chagres River in Panama to form

Lake Alajuela Lake Alajuela ( es, Lago Alajuela) is an artificial lake in the Chagres River basin. The lake is bounded by the Madden Dam and linked to the Panama Canal. Lake Alajuela serves as a reservoir for the canal, which lies to the lake's southwest. I ...

, a reservoir that is an essential part of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

watershed. The lake has a maximum level of above sea level. It can store one third of the canal's annual water requirements for the operation of the locks. Since the reservoir is not part of the navigational route, there are fewer restrictions on its water level. The Madden Dam was built to prevent the occasionally torrential flow of the once wild Chagres River, which flows into the navigational route of

Gatun Lake Gatun Lake ( es, Lago Gatún) is a large freshwater artificial lake to the south of Colón, Panama. At approximately above sea level, it forms a major part of the Panama Canal, carrying ships of their transit across the Isthmus of Panama. Gatun ...

and to control the level of water in the lake during the dry season. The river's unruly flow posed a major challenge to the construction of the Panama Canal which was originally addressed by the construction of the

Gatun Dam The Gatun Dam is a large earthen dam across the Chagres River in Panama, near the town of Gatun. The dam, constructed between 1907 and 1913, is a crucial element of the Panama Canal; it impounds the artificial Gatun Lake, which in turn carries sh ...

. Water from the dam's reservoir is also used to generate hydroelectric power and to supply Panama City's fresh water. The dam and the reservoir behind it were both named for U.S. Congressman

Martin B. Madden Martin Barnaby Madden (March 21, 1855 – April 27, 1928) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois. He belonged to the Republican Party. As of 2020, he is the last non-African American to serve as a representative for Illinois's 1st congress ...

of Illinois, who was a chairman of the House appropriations committee during the period while the U.S. was constructing the

. The reservoir, which had been known as Madden Lake from the time the dam first became operational, was renamed

after the Canal Zone reverted to Panamanian control at the end of 1999.

References

{{Authority control Dams completed in 1935 Energy infrastructure completed in 1935 Panama Canal Dams in Panama Hydroelectric power stations in Panama 1935 establishments in Panama

See also

References