Guajataca Lake

The Guajataca Dam is an earthen dam The reservoir has a normal surface area of , Dam construction The construction of the dam was authorized by act 63 of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, known as the "Isabela public irrigation law," approved April 19, 1919. The dam was constructed starting in 1928. The reservoir had an initial storage capacity of , but by 1999 (71 years later), the capacity had been reduced to , as about 13% less, attributed to sediment erosion. The National Weather Service a few minutes later urged all 70,000 residents in the flood area to be evacuated. The National Weather Service stated the dam was a "life-threatening situation". "It’s a structural failure. I don’t have any more details," Governor Ricardo Rosselló stated. "We’re trying to evacuate as many people as possible." The dam lies across the Guajataca River to form a reservoir that can hold roughly 11 billion gallons of water. , the dam was last inspected on October 23, 2013. The first phase of repairs to avoid the threat of flooding were completed on November 17, 2017. Since then about 10,000 residents, including farmers, who depend on the waters of the reservoir, have been struggling with the rationing of water. There is confusion and little transparency as to how the issue is being handled. Final repairs will be ongoing, until 2028. ==Gallery==