Alajuela Lake

The Alajuelasee (Spanish Lago Alajuela, formerly Madden Lake ) is an artificial lake in Panama.

It is 50.2 km ², is located 76 m above sea level and has a capacity of 651 million m³. The north-east of the Panama Canal located lake was created in 1935 after construction of the Madden Dam by damming the Río Chagres. The Alajuelasee was planned as a water reservoir for the operation of the channel and to regulate the occasional torrential floods of the Rio Chagres, but he is affected to a much greater extent of siltation than the Gatúnsee, bringing its storage capacity gradually decreased.

In addition, the location in the Chagres National Park Lake is a tourist resort area and drinking water reservoir.

The Alajuelasee and the Madden Dam are subject - as well as the entire catchment area of ​​the river Chagres - the administration of the Panama Canal Authority ( Autoridad del Canal de Panamá [ ACP] ).

Madden Dam

The approximately 16 km above standing Gamboa Madden Dam is a gravity dam with a crest length of 274 m and a height of 67 m above the foundations. Its water power plant contains three supplied by Allis -Chalmers 12 MW Francis turbines. The $ 10.6 million project was named after Martin B. Madden, who as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and Chairman of the Committee on Investments ( House Appropriations Committee ) significant influence on the financing of the project.