Riverside Diversion Dam

Last updated
Riverside Diversion Dam
Relief map of Texas.png
Red pog.svg
Location of Riverside Diversion Dam in Texas
Country United States
Location El Paso, Texas
Coordinates 31°39′29″N106°19′49″W / 31.658151°N 106.330139°W / 31.658151; -106.330139 Coordinates: 31°39′29″N106°19′49″W / 31.658151°N 106.330139°W / 31.658151; -106.330139
Purpose Irrigation
Opening date 1928
Demolition date 1987
Owner(s) Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Diversion dam
Elevation at crest 3,621 feet (1,104 m)
Width (crest) 267 feet (81 m)

The Riverside Diversion Dam (or simply the Riverside Dam) was a diversion dam on the Rio Grande to the southeast of El Paso, Texas. The dam was owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, and diverted water into the Riverside Canal for use in irrigation in the El Paso Valley. [1] The dam became obsolete with completion of a cement-lined canal carrying water from the upstream American Diversion Dam to the head of the canal. It was partially removed in 2003. [2]

Rio Grande river forming part of the US-Mexico border

The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally result in length changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is either the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America.

El Paso, Texas City in Texas, United States

El Paso is a city in and the seat of El Paso County, situated in the far western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. As of July 1, 2017, the population estimate for the city from the U.S. Census was 683,577. Its U.S. metropolitan area covers all of El Paso and Hudspeth counties in Texas, and has a population of 844,818. The El Paso metropolitan area forms part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces CSA, with a population of 1,053,267.

United States Bureau of Reclamation government agency

The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and operation of the diversion, delivery, and storage projects that it has built throughout the western United States for irrigation, water supply, and attendant hydroelectric power generation. Currently the USBR is the largest wholesaler of water in the country, bringing water to more than 31 million people, and providing one in five Western farmers with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland, which produce 60% of the nation's vegetables and 25% of its fruits and nuts. The USBR is also the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the western United States.

Contents

Construction

The 21 May 1906 treaty between the United States and Mexico for "an equitable distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande" guaranteed Mexico up to 60,000 acre feet (74,000,000 m3) annually, with the Americans taking the rest, except in time of drought when the shares would be reduced on a percentage basis. The Mexicans would withdraw their water from the Rio Grande at the Acequia Madre about 2 miles (3.2 km) downstream from the point where the river starts to form the international border. [3]

Riverside Diversion Dam was the lowermost dam of the Rio Grande Project, downstream from the Mexican dam. The dam, completed in 1928, was a concrete weir with radial gates, located on the Rio Grande about 15 miles (24 km) southeast of El Paso. It had a structural height of 17.5 feet (5.3 m) and a hydraulic height of 8 feet (2.4 m), with a weir crest length of 267 feet (81 m). The crest elevation was 3,621 feet (1,104 m) The spillway had six radial gates, each 16 by 8.17 feet (4.88 by 2.49 m), with an overflow weir for excess water. [4]

The dam could deliver 11,000 cubic feet per second (310 m3/s) downstream and could divert 900 cubic feet per second (25 m3/s) into the Riverside Canal headworks through 5 radial gates, each 16 by 6 feet (4.9 by 1.8 m). [4] On average the El Paso County diverted 194,387 acre feet (239,773,000 m3) into the Riverside Diversion Dam / Riverside Canal each year between 1928 and 1998. [5]

American dam and canal

To ensure that they got their agreed share of Rio Grande water, in 1935 Congress authorized construction of the American Dam, which measures the Mexican portion before it reached the international border and lets it continue along the river to the International Dam, while diverting the rest along the new 2 miles (3.2 km) long American Canal to the Franklin Canal, used to irrigate the 90 miles (140 km) long El Paso valley. [3] Between 1997 and 1998 a cement-lined extension to the American Canal replaced part of the earthen Franklin Canal. The Rio Grande American Canal Extension fed water into the Riverside Canal near to the dam. [6]

American Canal

The American Canal is an irrigation canal in the Upper Rio Grande Valley near El Paso, Texas. The canal acquires water from the Rio Grande from the American Diversion Dam at the Texas–New Mexico–Mexico border, 2 miles northwest of El Paso. The canal travels along the Rio Grande for 2.1 miles where it flows into the Franklin Canal and the rest of the canal network.

Franklin Canal (Texas) Canal in Texas

The Franklin Canal is an irrigation canal in the Upper Rio Grande Valley near El Paso, Texas. The canal acquires water from the Rio Grande via the American Canal. The canal is 28.4 miles (45.7 km) long with a capacity of 325 cubic feet per second.

Failure and removal

The Riverside Diversion Dam failed on 9 June 1987 due to flooding in the Rio Grande. With completion of the Rio Grande American Canal Extension, there was little need to rebuild the dam. In September 2003 the Socorro Field Division of the Bureau of Reclamation removed part of the failed diversion dam and coffer dam to improve flood control capability in the Rio Grande. The project required coordination between the Bureau of Reclamation, International Boundary and Water Commission and El Paso County Water and Improvement District No. 1. [2]

Related Research Articles

Imperial Dam concrete slab and buttress, ogee weir structure across the California/Arizona border

The Imperial Diversion Dam is a concrete slab and buttress, ogee weir structure across the California/Arizona border, 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Yuma. Completed in 1938, the dam retains the waters of the Colorado River into the Imperial Reservoir before desilting and diversion into the All-American Canal, the Gila River, and the Yuma Project aqueduct. Between 1932 and 1940, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) relied on the Inter-California Canal and the Imperial Canal and Alamo River. They also ordered 2 Super Sirexes from siren producer H.O.R. in the 1950s.

The International Boundary and Water Commission is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their international boundary when meandering rivers transferred tracts of land from one bank to the other, as established under the Convention of November 12, 1884.

Riverside Canal (El Paso)

The Riverside Canal is an irrigation canal in El Paso County beginning southeast of El Paso, Texas. The canal acquires water from the Riverside Diversion Dam on the Rio Grande 15 miles (24 km) southeast of El Paso. The canal is managed by the US Bureau of Reclamation. The canal extends for 17.2 miles (27.7 km) with a capacity of 900 cubic feet per second. Water from the canal irrigates about 39,000 acres (160 km²). The canal and diversion dam is the southernmost system on an irrigation project extending along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and Texas. The canal supplies a canal network extending throughout the Upper Rio Grande Valley.

Rio Grande Project

The Rio Grande Project is a United States Bureau of Reclamation irrigation, hydroelectricity, flood control, and interbasin water transfer project serving the upper Rio Grande basin in the southwestern United States. The project irrigates 193,000 acres (780 km2) along the river in the states of New Mexico and Texas. Approximately 60 percent of this land is in New Mexico. Some water is also allotted to Mexico to irrigate some 25,000 acres (100 km2) on the south side of the river. The project was authorized in 1905, but its final features were not implemented until the early 1950s.

El Vado Dam

El Vado Dam lies on the Rio Chama in the U.S. state of New Mexico, about 105 miles (169 km) north-northwest of New Mexico's largest city, Albuquerque and about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of the capital city of Santa Fe. The earth-filled structure forms El Vado Lake, a storage reservoir for the Middle Rio Grande Project.

San Juan-Chama Project

The San Juan-Chama Project is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation interbasin water transfer project located in the states of New Mexico and Colorado in the United States. The project consists of a series of tunnels and diversions that take water from the drainage basin of the San Juan River – a tributary of the Colorado River – to supplement water resources in the Rio Grande watershed. The project furnishes water for irrigation and municipal water supply to cities along the Rio Grande including Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

San Acacia, New Mexico unincorporated community & census-designated place in New Mexico, United States

San Acacia is a small unincorporated community and census-designated place in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States. It was once a prosperous railway town, but is now largely deserted. There is a nearby diversion dam on the Rio Grande, important in irrigation.

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1925 to manage the irrigation systems and control floods in the Albuquerque Basin. It is responsible for the stretch of river from the Cochiti Dam in Sandoval County in the north, through Bernalillo County, Valencia County and Socorro County to the Elephant Butte Reservoir in the south. It manages the Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams, which feed an extensive network of irrigation canals and ditches.

Angostura Diversion Dam

The Angostura Diversion Dam is a diversion dam on the Rio Grande in Sandoval County. New Mexico, near to Algodones and to the north of Bernalillo. The dam diverts water into the main irrigation canal serving the Albuquerque Division.

San Acacia Diversion Dam

The San Acacia Diversion Dam is a structure built in 1934 for the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) near to San Acacia, New Mexico, United States. It diverts water from the Rio Grande into irrigation canals.

Isleta Diversion Dam

The Isleta Diversion Dam is a structure on the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque Basin near Isleta Village Proper, New Mexico that diverts water from the river into irrigation canals. There have been some negative environmental impacts due to changes in the river flow that affect the native fish and drying of the riverside land.

Middle Rio Grande Project

The Middle Rio Grande Project manages water in the Albuquerque Basin of New Mexico, United States. It includes major upgrades and extensions to the irrigation facilities built by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and modifications to the channel of the Rio Grande to control sedimentation and flooding. The bulk of the work was done by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s, but construction continued into the 1970s and maintenance is ongoing. The project is complementary to the San Juan-Chama Project, which transfers water from the San Juan River in the Colorado River Basin to the Rio Grande. Although distribution of water from the two projects is handled through separate allotments and contracts, there is some sharing of facilities including the river itself. The ecological impact on the river and the riparian zone was the subject of extended litigation after a group of environmentalists filed Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Bureau of Reclamation in 1999.

Heron Dam

Heron Dam is a storage dam Rio Arriba County, in northern New Mexico in the southwestern United States, just north of the El Vado Dam. It is owned and operated by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. The dam is about 9 miles west of the town of Tierra Amarilla.

American Diversion Dam

The American Diversion Dam is a diversion dam on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas. It is about 140 feet (43 m) north of the point where the west bank of the river enters Mexico, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from the business center. The dam is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission. It started operation in 1938.

International Diversion Dam

The International Diversion Dam is a diversion dam on the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juárez. The dam is operated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, and diverts water into the Acequia Madre for use in irrigation in Mexico. Water is diverted under the terms of the 1906 treaty on usage of Rio Grande water between the United States and Mexico.

Percha Diversion Dam

The Percha Diversion Dam is a structure built in 1918 on the Rio Grande in New Mexico, United States. It diverts water from the Rio Grande into the Rincon Valley Main Canal, an irrigation canal.

Leasburg Diversion Dam

The Leasburg Diversion Dam is a structure completed in 1907 on the Rio Grande in New Mexico, United States. It diverts water from the Rio Grande into the 13.7 miles (22.0 km) long Leasburg Canal, which carries irrigation water into the upper Mesilla Valley, north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Mesilla Diversion Dam

The Mesilla Diversion Dam is located in the Rio Grande about 40 miles (64 km) upstream of El Paso, Texas, about 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south of Las Cruces, New Mexico. It diverts water from the river for irrigation in the lower Mesilla Valley. The dam is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which built it, and is operated by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Rio Grande Project - USBR.
  2. 1 2 Low Lake Level At Elephant Butte.
  3. 1 2 Metz 2012.
  4. 1 2 Rio Grande Project - WAPA.
  5. ↑ Coronado 2007, p. 88.
  6. ↑ Environmental Assessment - IBWC, p. 4.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.