Largest lakes & reservoirs in Southwest Colorado by water volume
The estimated volume of water that a lake contains is measured at the lake’s normal elevation. By this measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is Siberia’s Lake Baikal.Water Volume can be measured in acre-feet, in cubic miles, or in cubic kilometers. One acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre (43,560 square feet) to a depth of one foot. One cubic mile equals 3,379,200 acre-feet. One cubic kilometer equals 810,713 acre-feet. 1 acre-foot is equal to 325,851 US gallons. Siberia’s Lake Baikal contains about 6,276,367,740,000,000 gallons of freshwater – nearly 1 million gallons for every living person on earth.
The other – and more widely used – measure of a lake’s size is the lake’s surface acreage. By that measure, the world’s largest freshwater lake is North America’s Lake Superior.
Note: In the United States, an acre foot is a unit of volume used to refer to large-scale bodies of water. It is defined by the volume of water needed to cover 1 acre of surface area to a depth of 1 foot.
You can find many of the the world’s largest lakes (by water volume) on LakeLubbers. Note: For some lakes, the water volume data is unknown or does not apply, so you may see fewer lakes than the total 7 articles we have published for Southwest Colorado lakes.
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Below are lakes within USA > US West Region > Colorado > Southwest Colorado > Compared by water volume. This list does not represent all lakes in Southwest Colorado, only the 7 Southwest Colorado lake articles we have published on the LakeLubbers website.
Lake name  |
Water vol. in ac-ft |
Lake description |
|---|---|---|
| Blue Mesa Reservoir, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
688,554 ac-ft | (Also known as Blue Mesa Lake) Beautiful mesas, deep canyons, and steep rocky cliffs surround Blue Mesa Reservoir, the second largest lake entirely in Colorado. The clear, blue, mou… |
| McPhee Reservoir, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
309,563 ac-ft | In 1776 Spanish priests traveling through the Dolores Valley imagined a project that would bring water to the thirsty crops of the Montezuma Valley. B… |
| Morrow Point Reservoir, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
42,120 ac-ft | Only something truly breathtaking and extraordinary would make it worth carrying a kayak down 232 steps. The steep, rocky cliffs meeting the clear blu… |
| Electra Lake, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
22,000 ac-ft | (Also known as Cascade Reservoir) The majestic peaks of the San Juan Mountains stand guard over the breathtaking beauty of southwestern Colorado’s Electra Lake. Found 25 miles north of… |
| Crystal Reservoir, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
12,891 ac-ft | In 1882 the Curecanti needle became the symbol for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. With its steep cliffs and rock formations, the area around Crys… |
| Lake Purgatory, CO (Colorado, Southwest Colorado, US West Region, USA) |
50 ac-ft | (Also known as Columbine Lake, Purgatory Lake) Set in the middle of a winter wonderland, Lake Purgatory is a private, alpine lake found in beautiful southwestern Colorado. Property owners and their… |