Imperial Reservoir (Rio Grande River Basin)

Imperial Reservoir is located four miles south of Grandfalls in Pecos County, on Imperial Ditch, a channel/tributary of Pecos River, which is a tributary to the Rio Grande. The reservoir is owned and operated by Pecos County Water Improvement District No. 2 for irrigation and recreation purposes. State authorization is believed issued in 1880 for this off-channel reservoir. Estimated date of completion was 1910. The dam is an earthfill embankment with a maximum height of 25 feet. The lake has a capacity of 6,000 acre-feet encompassing a surface area of about 1,530 acres at a designed elevation which is unknown. The drainage area above the dam is very limited, however the water is pumped from the Pecos River which catches an area of approximately 30,000 square miles above the pumping site (near the dam).