The American Canal is an
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
canal
Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...
in the Upper Rio Grande Valley near
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...
. The canal acquires water from the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
from the
American Diversion Dam
The American Dam, or American Diversion Dam, is a diversion dam on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, that divides the river water between Mexico and the U.S. It is about north of the point where the west bank of the river enters Mexico, from th ...
at the
Texas–New Mexico–Mexico border, northwest of downtown El Paso.
The canal supplies the majority of the raw water to El Paso’s Johnathan-Roger Water Treatment Plant. It also mitigates flooding in south El Paso neighborhoods.
[ The canal travels along the Rio Grande for where it flows into the Franklin Canal and the rest of the canal network. Construction of the canal dates back to 1938.]
See also
* Texas Irrigation Canals
Texas has many irrigation canals with the majority of large canal networks in the Rio Grande Valley and the Gulf Coast, though smaller systems are located throughout the state. Canals provide water to dry climates to irrigate crops.
Rio Grande Va ...
* Franklin Canal (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 long with a capacity of .
The Franklin Irrigation Company completed t ...
* Riverside Canal
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 southeast of El Paso. The canal is managed by the US Bureau of Reclam ...
References
{{Coord, 31.7724, -106.5153, type:river_region:US-TX, display=title
Canals in Texas
Irrigation canals
Transportation buildings and structures in El Paso County, Texas