Navajo Dam, Rolled earthfill embankment dam in San Juan County, New Mexico, US

Navajo Dam is an earthen dam on the San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico, forming a reservoir called Navajo Lake that reaches into southern Colorado. The dam sits in a canyon of red sandstone walls, and the water behind it fills a long, narrow valley between rocky ridges.

The dam was completed in the early 1960s by the federal Bureau of Reclamation as part of a broader plan to bring water to farmland across the Colorado River basin. The Navajo Nation, whose name the structure carries, had long lived in this region before the project was built.

The dam's name comes from the Navajo Nation, whose reservation lies nearby; the Navajo word for the site is Daʼdeestłʼin. The reservoir, Navajo Lake, is one of the largest bodies of water in New Mexico and extends into Colorado, making it a regional destination for boating and fishing. The cold, steady releases from the dam created a tailwater trout fishery below, where anglers fish year-round.

The area is accessible from the small community called Navajo Dam, located just below the dam structure itself on the New Mexico side. Anglers should check local regulations before visiting, as the stretch of river below the dam has its own specific rules.

The dam's outlet works release up to 1,320 cubic feet per second through a 32-megawatt hydroelectric plant owned by the city of Farmington, added in the 1980s. That plant supplies about 37,000 customers in northwestern New Mexico and averaged 135,226,000 kilowatt hours per year between 1989 and 1999.