After a 1944 United States Mexico Treaty the Morelos Dam was built in 1950 across the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

. It is located about below the junction of the California border and the Colorado River between the town of

Los Algodones, Baja California Los Algodones is a city in Mexicali Municipality, Baja California. Located on the United States-Mexico border, Los Algodones is south of Andrade, California and west of Yuma, Arizona. It reported a population of 5,474 as of the 2010 Mexican censu ...

, in northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and

Yuma County, Arizona Yuma County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, its population was 203,881. The county seat is Yuma. Yuma County includes the Yuma, Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county bo ...

in the southwestern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The eastern half of the dam lies inside United States territory; but Mexico is responsible for all maintenance. The dam allows Mexico to divert its allotted water from the Colorado River to highly developed crop lands in the Mexicali, Mexico Valley. The Morelos Dam is the final dam on the

. It is run by the

International Boundary and Water Commission The International Boundary and Water Commission ( es, links=no, Comisión Internacional de Límites y Aguas) is an international body created by the United States and Mexico in 1889 to apply the rules for determining the location of their intern ...

(IBWC). On March 23, 2014, an eight-week flood was begun with the opening of a gate at Morelos Dam. The goal is to rejuvenate a

desert riparian Desert riparian is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) occurring in the bottoms of valleys, canyons, and other watercourses that have water at or near the surface most of the year.Pam MacKay, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, 2nd Ed., p. ...

habitat which naturalist

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his ...

explored in 1922 and described as "awesome jungles" and "lovely groves" in his memoir ''

A Sand County Almanac ''A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There'' is a 1949 non-fiction book by American ecologist, forester, and environmentalist Aldo Leopold. Describing the land around the author's home in Sauk County, Wisconsin, the collection of essay ...

''. The dam is noted as the location Chris McCandless crossed into Mexico by kayak.

References

External links

IBWC Morelos Dam Information
{{Colorado_River_system Dams on the Colorado River Dams in Arizona Dams in Mexico Dams of the Lower Colorado River Valley Buildings and structures in Baja California Buildings and structures in Yuma County, Arizona Mexicali Municipality Dams completed in 1950