TONTO NATIONAL FOREST, AZ (AZFamily) — Canyon Lake, a man-made reservoir and scenic boating destination east of the Valley, will be closed for a few months next year for scheduled dam maintenance.

Water levels at the Tonto National Forest lake will be lowered by 54 feet for 16 weeks starting Sept. 16, 2026, according to the Salt River Project (SRP).

SRP and the Bureau of Reclamation will perform inspections and maintenance on Mormon Flat Dam , Horse Mesa Dam, and the river channel downstream of Horse Mesa, leading into Canyon Lake.

While maintenance is regularly performed on the dams, some critical equipment is located underwater, which makes it inaccessible without lowering the lake level. Officials do these inspections and maintenance programs on it every 20 years.

It will take ab

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