Ruedi Dam and Reservoir are U.S. Dept. of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation facilities. They were constructed 1964-68 by the Bureau as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas project which developed transbasin diversions to transfer water from Colorado’s west slope to the front range. The Bureau continues to manage the Dam and Reservoir and the US Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service manages the adjacent lands.

Ruedi Dam
Type:  Earth and rockfill
Location:  On the Fryingpan River about 15 miles east of Basalt, Colorado
Construction period:  1964 - 1968
Ruedi Reservoir:  Total capacity to Elevation 7766:  102,369 acre feet
Active capacity:  101,280 acre feet
Surface area:  997 acres
Dimensions:  Height above streambed:  285 feet
Top width:  30 feet
Maximum base width:  1,453 feet
Crest Length:  1,042 feet
Crest Elevation:  7788.0 feet
Tot volume (embankment):  3,745,200 cubic yards
Ruedi Hydro
Construction: 1984-85
Type: Single Pelton Wheel, in line with two needle valves
Capacity: 5.0 MW
Annual Output: 17-25m KwH
Flow: Up to 300 cfs
Cost: $4.5 million (City of Aspen Bond)
FERC License: Issued to City of Aspen and Pitkin County, 1983, currently held by City of Aspen
Construction and Maintenance Contractor: General Electric

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project Transbasin Diversions
Name                        Stream                  Annual Flow(acre feet) Receiving Stream      Basin
Boustead Tunnel       Fryingpan River           50,061                      Lake Fork Creek        Arkansas
Twin Lakes Tunnel    Roaring Fork River      41,854                       N. Fork Lake Creek     Arkansas
(Grizzly & Lost Man
Reservoirs)
Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel Fryingpan River            5,208                       Lake Fork Creek       Arkansas

The West Slope Collection System, located upstream of Ruedi Reservoir in the upper Fryingpan
River and Hunter Creek watersheds, is a series of 16 stream diversion structures and eight
tunnels. The system collects spring snowmelt runoff by gravity and directs it to the Boustead Tunnel. The Boustead Tunnel conveys water collected by the West Slope Collection System under the Continental Divide and into Turquoise Lake on the East Slope. The tunnel is five miles long and has a water conveyance capacity of 945 cubic feet per second (ft/s). Eight percent of the water in the Watershed is currently diverted to the Eastern Slope.