The Sacramento Wash is a major

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

of northwest

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Mohave County Mohave County occupies the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 counties in the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 213,267. The county seat is Kingman, and the largest city is Lake Havasu City. It is th ...

. The wash is east of the Black Canyon of the Colorado and drains into the south-flowing

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

45 mi south of

Lake Mohave Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley (Arizona/Nevada), Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This stretch of the Colorado Rive ...

, and 90 mi south of

Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado, Black Canyon of the Colorado River (U.S.), Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, d ...

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. L ...

. The wash outfall is in the center-south of the Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed. An equivalent wash drains to the west of the Colorado River and the Black Canyon, draining southeast

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and a small part of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, the

Piute Wash The Piute Wash of extreme southeastern Nevada and northeast San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County California is the south-flowing drainage of the Piute Valley. The wash and valley are located northwest of Needles, California. T ...

of the

Piute Valley The Piute Valley is a north–south valley southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and northwest of Needles. The north of the valley is at Searchlight, with some of the valley extending northwest from Searchlight. At the center-north lies Cal-Nev-Ari, ...

. The Piute Wash outfall is upstream of the Sacramento's outfall by about 15 miles. Both Piute and Sacramento Washes are

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

desert

wash Wash or the Wash may refer to: Industry and sanitation * WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues * Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages ...

es which may only have standing water in mountainous canyon tributaries, or in periods of extensive rainfall and cooler weather. Much of the water is also simply infiltrated into groundwater basins. Only one tributary to Sacramento Wash is an intermittent stream, Sawmill Canyon in the northeast region of the

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

.(Sawmill Canyon); Planning Area Surface Water Hydrology
/ref> The wash drains the

, and the valley is bordered on the west by the

Black Mountains (Arizona) The Black Mountains of northwest Arizona are an extensive, mostly linear, north-south trending long mountain range. It forms the north-south border of southwest Mohave County as it borders the eastern shore of the south-flowing Colorado River fr ...

, and

Interstate 40 in Arizona Interstate 40 (I-40) is an east–west Interstate Highway that has a section in the US state of Arizona, connecting sections in California and New Mexico. The Interstate is also referred to as the Purple Heart Trail to honor those wounded ...

traverses south from Kingman and goes west around the south end of the mountains, a section called the Black Mesa (western Arizona). I-40 joins the central section of the wash proper at

Yucca, Arizona Yucca is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mohave County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 96, down from 126 at the 2010 census. Located along Interstate 40, it lies southwes ...

and the interstate follows the valley and wash west to meet the Colorado River at Needles. The drainage to the north of the Havasu-Mohave Lakes Watershed with the Sacramento Wash Drainage is the Lake Mead Watershed. The

Detrital Valley The Detrital Valley is a 51-mi (82 km) long valley in northwest Mohave County, Arizona that drains into Lake Mead. It is parallel to the valley just east, Hualapai Valley with the White Hills (Arizona) being the divider between. Detrital ...

bordering Sacramento Valley and Wash north and northwest of Kingman, is part of the southeast region of

Topock Marsh

The confluence of the Sacramento Wash with the Colorado, occurs at the

Topock Marsh Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. It preserves habitat for wildlife like desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, the threate ...

in its southeast. The Topock Marsh has two interconnected sections, and the marsh is east of the main course of the Colorado River. It is a noted region for

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

, including

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device such as binoculars or a telescop ...

. The river section containing the marsh is the

Havasu National Wildlife Refuge Havasu National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge on the lower Colorado River in Arizona and California. It preserves habitat for wildlife like desert bighorn sheep, the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, the threaten ...

, about 25 miles long.

Northwest Arizona, Bill Williams River

The entirety of northwest Arizona is drained as a single region flowing into regions of the Colorado River and

's southeast quarter. The Sacramento Wash Watershed is bordered, and enclosed on the southeast and south by the

Bill Williams River The Bill Williams River is a river in west-central Arizona where it, along with one of its tributaries, the Santa Maria River, form the boundary between Mohave County to the north and La Paz County to the south.''Arizona Atlas & Gazetteer,'' ...

and its northern tributary, the Big Sandy River which drains the areas east of the Sacramento Valley. The Bill Williams flows due west to its confluence with the Colorado, as does the Sacramento Wash flows west. The Bill Williams is also a delimiting line separating the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert (; ; ) is a desert in the rain shadow of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains and Transverse Ranges in the Southwestern United States. Named for the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous Mohave people, it is located pr ...

to the north and northwest, and the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

south and southeast. The

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

is southwest, and is called a northwest extension of the Sonoran.

References

External links

Sacramento Wash
Sacramento Wash Watershed, in Sacramento Valley
Bordering Watersheds
Big Sandy WatershedBill Williams WatershedDetrital Wash WatershedHavasu-Mohave Lakes WatershedHualapai Wash Watershed
(

endorheic An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...

)
Lake Mead Watershed
(with

) Nevada-California
Piute Wash Watershed, Nevada to California
Other

{{Rivers and streams of Arizona Tributaries of the Lower Colorado River in Arizona Rivers of Mohave County, Arizona Washes of Arizona