This is a list of notable lakes and reservoirs located in the U.S. state of Arizona. Many of the lakes listed here contain game fish and are managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Some may dry out or freeze out fish, and require seasonal restocking. Most lakes will not allow large motorboats.
Due to Arizona's dry climate, many listed here are intermittent lakes and do not contain water throughout the entire year. Swimming, fishing, and/or boating are permitted in some of these lakes, but not all.
There are 18 lakes in the Urban Lake system.[ citation needed ] They are stocked with sports fish seasonally.
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, the 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
The Little Colorado River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona, providing the principal drainage from the Painted Desert region. Together with its major tributary, the Puerco River, it drains an area of about 26,500 square miles (69,000 km2) in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico. Although it stretches almost 340 miles (550 km), only the headwaters and the lowermost reaches flow year-round. Between St. Johns and Cameron, most of the river is a wide, braided wash, only containing water after heavy snowmelt or flash flooding.
The Salt River is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin covers about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2). The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the river's course over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.
The Verde River is a major tributary of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is about 170 miles (270 km) long and carries a mean flow of 602 cubic feet per second (17.0 m3/s) at its mouth. It is one of the largest perennial streams in Arizona.
Canyon Lake is one of four reservoirs that were formed by the damming of the Salt River in the U.S. state of Arizona as part of the Salt River Project. It was formed by the Mormon Flat Dam, which was completed in 1925 after two years of construction. Canyon Lake, with a surface area of 950 acres (380 ha), is the third and smallest of the four lakes created along the river. Two others, Apache Lake and Roosevelt Lake, are upstream. The fourth, Saguaro Lake, is downstream.
Havasu Falls is a waterfall of Havasu Creek, located in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States. It is within Havasupai tribal lands.
Cherry Creek is a large, swift-flowing stream in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and is the largest tributary of the Tuolumne River. The creek is 44.6 miles (71.8 km) long measured to its farthest headwaters; the main stem itself is 27.7 miles (44.6 km) long, draining a watershed of 234 square miles (610 km2) in the Stanislaus National Forest. Part of the drainage also extends into the northwest corner of Yosemite National Park.
Apache Lake is one of four reservoirs built along the Salt River in central Arizona as part of the Salt River Project.
Theodore Roosevelt Lake is a large reservoir formed by Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River in Arizona as part of the Salt River Project (SRP). Located roughly 80 miles (130 km) northeast of Phoenix in the Salt River Valley, Theodore Roosevelt is the largest lake or reservoir located entirely within the state of Arizona. The reservoir and the masonry dam that created it, Roosevelt Dam, were both named after U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt who dedicated the dam himself on March 18, 1911. Roosevelt Lake is a popular recreation destination within the Tonto National Forest; the facilities located at this lake are managed by that authority.
Bartlett Lake is a reservoir that was formed by the damming of the Verde River in the U.S. state of Arizona. It is downstream and to the south of Horseshoe Reservoir. Constructed in 1936–39 by the Salt River Project, the Bartlett Dam and reservoir were named for Bill Bartlett, a government surveyor. Bartlett Lake was the first reservoir built on the Verde River.
The Bill Williams River is a 46.3-mile-long (74.5 km) river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south. It is a major drainage westwards into the Colorado River of the Lower Colorado River Valley south of Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, and the drainage basin covers portions of northwest, and west-central Arizona. The equivalent drainage system paralleling the east–west lower reaches of the Bill Williams is the Gila River, which flows east-to-west across central Arizona, joining the Colorado River in the southwest at Yuma. The confluence of the Bill Williams River with the Colorado is north of Parker, and south of Lake Havasu City.
The Imperial Reservoir is an artificial lake formed by the construction of the Imperial Diversion Dam across the Colorado River in the Lower Colorado River Valley of Imperial County, California, and Yuma County, Arizona. Partially included in the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge, the reservoir is 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Yuma, Arizona.
Chevelon Canyon Lake is a small reservoir located in northern Arizona, about 28 mi (45 km) northwest of the town of Heber. It is one in a series of small, canyon-bound lakes located on the Mogollon Rim, collectively referred to as the Rim Lakes. It is said to be among the most difficult to access in the region. It is also the second reservoir on Chevelon Creek, downstream from Woods Canyon Lake. The facilities are maintained by Apache–Sitgreaves National Forests division of the USDA Forest Service.
San Vicente Reservoir is a reservoir created by the San Vicente Dam in San Diego County, California. It is located in the Cuyamaca Mountains, approximately 4.3 miles (6.9 km) north of Lakeside off California State Route 67.
Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. It preserves habitat for desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, and other animals. The refuge protects 30 river miles - 300 miles (480 km) of shoreline - from Needles, California, to Lake Havasu City, Arizona. One of the last remaining natural stretches of the lower Colorado River flows through the 20-mile-long (32 km) Topock Gorge.
Almaden Reservoir is an artificial lake in the hills south of San Jose, California in the United States. It borders on the 4,163-acre (1,685 ha) Almaden Quicksilver County Park, which provides limited fishing ("catch-and-release"), picnicking, hiking, and horseback riding activities. Swimming and boating are not permitted in the reservoir.
Calero Reservoir, also called Calero Lake, is a reservoir in San Jose, California, located in the Calero neighborhood of Almaden Valley in South San Jose. It is the site of Calero County Park, which also includes a large area covering the lake and hundreds of acres of hills around it.
The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. Its headwaters are in the Rocky Mountains where La Poudre Pass Lake is its source. Located in north central Colorado it flows southwest through the Colorado Plateau country of western Colorado, southeastern Utah and northwestern Arizona where it flows through the Grand Canyon. It turns south near Las Vegas, Nevada, forming the Arizona–Nevada border in Lake Mead and the Arizona–California border a few miles below Davis Dam between Laughlin, Nevada and Needles, California before entering Mexico in the Colorado Desert. Most of its waters are diverted into the Imperial Valley of Southern California. In Mexico its course forms the boundary between Sonora and Baja California before entering the Gulf of California. This article describes most of the major features along the river.
Pyramid Canyon is the canyon on the Colorado River where Davis Dam was built on the state line between Nevada and Arizona. The canyon is located on the Colorado River, between Cottonwood Valley on the north and the Mohave Valley to the south. To the west of the canyon are the Newberry Mountains, and to the east are the Black Mountains of Arizona. Originally a deep canyon between the two ranges containing the free flowing Colorado River, Pyramid Canyon is now filled by the lower reach of Lake Mohave a reservoir formed by Davis Dam.