El Carrizal Dam

The El Carrizal Dam (in Spanish, Embalse El Carrizal) is a dam on the upper-middle course of the Tunuyán River, in the center-north of the province of Mendoza, Argentina upstream from the city of Rivadavia. Its reservoir measures about 15 by 5 kilometres (9.3 mi × 3.1 mi), and its maximum water level stands at 785.5 metres (2,577 ft) above the sea, covering an area of 31.47 square kilometres (12.15 sq mi). It has a maximum volume of 327 million cubic metres (11.5×10^⁹ cu ft).

The dam is used to regulate the flow of the Tunuyán River, which comes from glacial sources in the Andes, and to irrigate the otherwise arid region. The reservoir is a tourist attraction and is employed for fishing, windsurfing, sailing, etc., while its shores feature camping sites and other lodging facilities.

The waters of the dam feed a hydroelectric power station, which was built in 1971 and has an installed power generation capacity of 17 megawatts (23,000 hp).