Construction of American Dam 1937

Note: 6-5-37, 1:00pm, El Paso, Texas. American Dam; View from N.W. For centuries the Rio Grande River has been used as a source of irrigation water for agriculture in the El Paso – Juarez area. In 1889 the governments of the United States and Mexico established the International Boundary Commission (IBC), in 1944 renamed the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC). One of its early actions was to discuss delivery of Rio Grande water to Mexico. In 1906, the two countries agreed to deliver 60,000 acre-feet of water annually to Mexico at the main irrigation Canal in Ciudad Juarez, known as Acequia Madre. The canal's mouth is two miles downstream from the international border. The remainder of the water would be used by American farmers in the ninety-mile-long El Paso valley. In times of drought both Mexican and American shares would be reduced on a percentage basis. The system did not provide a way for the United States to allot Mexico its rightful portion and keep the rest. As a result, Mexico took its share first and channeled the remainder into the Franklin Canal for the farms in the El Paso valley. According to some American estimates this permitted Mexico to siphon off up to three times its portion of irrigation water. Responding in 1935, Congress authorized two diversionary projects, the American Dam and the American Canal. The dam caught the water in New Mexico short of the international border, measured Mexico's share and allowed it to continue to the Acequia Madre, and diverted everything else into the American Canal, a two-mile feeder leading to the Franklin Canal. The American Canal parallels West Paisano Drive (US Highway 85) and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad track. The project has proved a successful solution to the problem of dividing the waters. Sources: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rua03 http://www.ibwc.gov/Files/EnvironmentalAssessment.pdf

Área: Central / Smeltertown