It creates Blue Mesa Reservoir, and is within Curecanti National Recreation Area just before the river enters the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

Blue Mesa Dam and reservoir are part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, which retains the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest.

Blue Mesa Dam houses two turbine generators and produces an average of 264,329,000 kilowatt-hours each year.

[4] The dam stands in an area where sandstone and shale overlay pre-Cambrian granite, schist and gneiss.

The primary construction contract for the dam was awarded to the Tecon Corporation of Dallas, Texas, with notice to proceed on April 23, 1962.

[5] Spillway modifications took place in 1984-85 to repair the damage, while a uniform and largely cosmetic covering of riprap was applied to the dam face.

The Blue Mesa Powerplant is fed by one 16-foot (4.9 m) diameter penstock, which supplies two turbines, as well as feeding the outlet works.