The Mesilla Diversion Dam is located in the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

about upstream of

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, about to the south of

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; ; lit. 'the crosses') is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the county seat, seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 United States ce ...

. It diverts water from the river for irrigation in the lower Mesilla Valley. The dam is owned by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, 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 operatio ...

, which built it, and is operated by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.

Background

The first small canals in the

Mesilla Valley The Mesilla Valley is a geographic feature of Southern New Mexico and far West Texas. It was formed by repeated heavy spring floods of the Rio Grande. Background The fertile Mesilla Valley extends from Radium Springs, New Mexico, to the west ...

were dug in 1841, and more canals were dug after 1848, when Mexico ceded the region to the United States. By 1897, there were five main canals, all north of Chamberino. In 1908, the Leasburg Diversion Dam was completed. Water flow was still unpredictable, with the river often drying up for several months. This changed with the closure of

Elephant Butte Dam Elephant Butte Dam or Elephant Butte Dike, originally Engle Dam, is a concrete gravity dam on the Rio Grande near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, in the United States. The dam impounds Elephant Butte Reservoir, which is used mainly for agricu ...

in 1915, which regulated the flow. The Mesilla Diversion Dam was completed in 1916. MesillaDamBuildDate

By this time, the canal system had served the entire valley.

Structure

The dam was built as part of the

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 along ...

. The dam was completed in 1916, and the crest was raised by in 1940. The weir crest is above sea level. It consists of a low concrete weir with radial gates flanked by levees. The dam has a structural height of and a hydraulic height of . The weir crest length is . The west side spillway has nine radial gates, each . The east side spillway has four radial gates, each . The main spillway has a capacity of per second.

Canals

The dam diverts water into the East Side Canal and West Side Canal, which provide irrigation water to of land in the lower Mesilla Valley. The East Side Canal is long and has a capacity of . The West Side Canal is larger at long and has a capacity of . Near its end, the West Side Canal crosses underneath the Rio Grande via the Montoya Siphon.

References

Citations Sources * * * {{Rio Grande dams and diversions Dams in New Mexico Buildings and structures in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Dams completed in 1916 United States local public utility dams Dams on the Rio Grande 1916 establishments in New Mexico