Largest Reservoirs in Minnesota

Minnesota has 1106 dams with recorded storage capacity. The largest is Lower Red Lake Dam with 3,428,000 acre-feet of maximum storage. One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons — enough to supply roughly two households for a year.

#	Dam	County	Max Storage (acre-ft)	Height (ft)	Purpose	Year
1	Lower Red Lake Dam	Clearwater	3,428,000	17	Other	1931
2	Mississippi River Lock And Dam 2	Dakota	787,000	42	Navigation	1931
3	Kettle Falls		702,500	26	Recreation	1914
4	Leech Dam	Cass	680,000	13	Recreation	1885
5	Mille Lacs	Mille Lacs	665,000	8	Recreation	2015
6	Otter Tail Lake	Otter Tail	557,200	10	Other	1936
7	Winnibigoshish Dam - Dike 1	Cass	550,000	5	Water Supply	1884
8	Mississippi River Lock And Dam 3	Goodhue	547,000	44	Navigation	1938
9	Fargo-moorhead Diversion	Clay	512,000	54	Flood Risk Reduction
10	Deer Lake	Itasca	324,984	8	Recreation	1938
11	Lake Miltona	Douglas	280,224	8	Recreation	1937
12	Mississippi River Lock And Dam 5a - Winona Levee	Winona	260,000	46	Navigation	1936
13	Pelican Lake	St. Louis	240,790	10	Recreation	2002
14	Big Stone Lake	Big Stone	205,000	15	Recreation	1937
15	Lake Aaron	Douglas	190,000	8	Recreation	1964
16	Pine River Dam - Dikes 13 And 14	Crow Wing	187,700	23	Fish and Wildlife Pond	1886
17	Reservation Dam	Traverse	177,500	16	Recreation	1940
18	Island Lake North Dike	St. Louis	177,000	21	Hydroelectric	1915
19	Pelican Lake	Crow Wing	170,275	8	Other	1938
20	Lake Carlos	Douglas	156,000	7	Recreation	1993
21	Minntac Tailings	St. Louis	143,000	50	Tailings	1978
22	Pine Mountain Lake	Cass	126,737	7	Recreation	1936
23	Hibbing Taconite Tailings Basin	St. Louis	125,000	100	Tailings
24	Lac Qui Parle Dam	Lac qui Parle	122,800	35	Flood Risk Reduction	1939
25	Wabana Lake	Itasca	121,000	7	Fish and Wildlife Pond	1940
26	Knutson	Beltrami	120,000	9	Other	1900
27	Pokegama Dam - Dikes 1, 2 And 3	Itasca	120,000	17	Recreation	1884
28	Roseau Lake	Roseau	111,589	12	Fish and Wildlife Pond	2023
29	Mississippi River Lock And Dam 5	Buffalo	106,600	43	Navigation	1935
30	Mississippi River Lock And Dam 7	La Crosse	105,000	41	Navigation	1937
31	Dead Lake West	Otter Tail	100,204	7		1938
32	Dead Lake East	Otter Tail	100,204	9	Recreation	1938
33	Heron Lake Outlet	Jackson	100,000	10	Fish and Wildlife Pond	1937
34	White Rock Dam	Traverse	95,500	33	Flood Risk Reduction	1941
35	Big Pine Lake	Otter Tail	91,580	10	Recreation	1937
36	Highway 75 Dam	Lac qui Parle	91,000	32	Flood Risk Reduction	1974
37	Marsh Dam	Swift	91,000	28	Flood Risk Reduction	1942
38	Potato Lake	Hubbard	90,376	9	Recreation	1939
39	Lake Koronis	Meeker	90,000	9	Recreation	1989
40	Big Birch Lake	Todd	81,434	12	Fish and Wildlife Pond	1992
41	Sandy Lock And Dam	Aitkin	79,400	22	Other	1895
42	Rush Lake	Otter Tail	78,345	8	Recreation	1937
43	International Falls	Koochiching	77,274	29	Hydroelectric	1909
44	Sturgeon Lake	St. Louis	75,599	8	Recreation	1936
45	Gull Dam	Cass	75,300	15	Recreation	1912
46	Hibbing Taconite Reclaim Pond	St. Louis	75,000	100	Tailings
47	Washburn Lake	Cass	72,776	7	Recreation	1936
48	Roosevelt Lake	Crow Wing	72,412	8	Recreation	1936
49	Pelican Lake	Otter Tail	70,250	7	Recreation	1938
50	Little Pine Lake	Otter Tail	67,200	7	Recreation	1933

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