Photos and videos: Navajo Dam and Navajo Lake, August 2021

This page features imagery and videos of of Navajo Lake and Navajo Dam, along the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico.

The image and video galleries are available for download and use through our archive pages. Click the button below to access the galleries.

DateAugust 14, 2021
LocationNavajo Dam/Lake, New Mexico (map)
PhotographerMitch Tobin
OrganizationThe Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder
RightsFree to reuse under Creative Commons license, with credit to Mitch Tobin/The Water Desk

Completed in 1962, Navajo Dam is part of the Colorado River Storage Project. The 402-foot earthen dam was built for irrigation, flood control and water storage. A small hydroelectric plant was added after construction.

Navajo Lake is the second largest lake in New Mexico and a popular recreation site, but drought and aridification have depleted the reservoir in recent years.


Video sample

All videos are available for download and use by clicking the download button below.

Selected images from the gallery

Click to enlarge

To use these images

Please read and consent to the terms and license below for access to the download page.

The Water Desk’s photo and video resources are part of our efforts to aid and enrich news coverage of Western water issues. Our imagery is shot by professional photojournalists and is available for free reuse under a Creative Commons noncommercial license.

To help us continue to offer this free material, we ask that you please:
  1. Credit the original photographer and the Water Desk as the source
  2. Email us a link to the published story at waterdesk@colorado.edu
  3. Consider sending The Water Desk your ideas for future content that we could add to the library
  4. Keep supporting professional photojournalists by hiring them for assignments

I understand and consent

< Show related galleries

Explore aerial, drone and ground-based imagery from The Water Desk