Juarez Mexico Dentist, just across the border from El Paso Texas Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Juarez, Mexico sits directly opposite El Paso, Texas, separated only by the Rio Grande River which is the international border. The downtown areas of the two cities are within easy walking distance of each other. The population of Ciudad Juarez is generally cited to be around 1.5 million. There are four international ports of entry connecting Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, including the Bridge of the Americas, Ysleta International Bridge, Paso del Norte Bridge and Stanton Street Bridge. These combined allowed 20,000,000 crossings every year. Ciudad Juárez is well known for low cost dental work. Overview - Texas Drug Threat Assessment Texas Drug Threat Assessment Texas. Note: This map displays features mentioned in the report. Texas is the second largest state in the country in terms of both population and land area. According to the U.S.

Census Bureau, the state has more than 21 million residents; 71.0 percent are Caucasian, 11.5 percent African American, 2.7 percent Asian, 0.6 percent American Indian or Alaska Native, 0.1 percent Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 14.2 percent are another race or more than one race. Thirty-two percent of the population is of Hispanic or Latino origin. The state encompasses a land area of approximately 261,914 square miles. It is composed of forests, mountains, deserts, dry plains, and humid, subtropical coastal lowlands. Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio Number of counties To Top To Contents Texas shares a 1,254-mile border with Mexico that follows the course of the Rio Grande River. This border area, a large portion of which is open and incapable of being continuously monitored by border enforcement agencies, is extensively used by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States. Significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are smuggled from Mexico into Texas.

Federal-wide Drug Seizure System (FDSS) data indicate that the quantity of drugs seized by federal law enforcement officers in Texas, most of which is seized at or near the U.S.-Mexico border, consistently exceeds that of any other state in the nation. FDSS data indicate that in 2002, Texas ranked first in the country in the amount of cocaine and marijuana seized by federal officers, second in the amount of methamphetamine seized, and third in the amount of heroin seized. (See Table 1 .) In 2002, 555,324 kilograms of marijuana were seized in Texas--more than were seized in all other states combined during that year. Table 1 . Federal Drug Seizures in Texas and Nationwide Ranking, 2002 Third Source: Federal-Wide Drug Seizure System. There are 11 land ports of entry (POEs) along the Texas portion of the U.S.-Mexico border including, from west to east, El Paso, Fabens, Presidio, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Roma, Rio Grande City, Hidalgo, Progreso, and Brownsville.

(See Figure 1 .) In 2001 more than 20 million pedestrians, 51 million private vehicles, and nearly 3 million commercial trucks crossed into Texas from Mexico through these POEs. This volume of cross-border traffic facilitates illicit drug smuggling into and throughout the state. Figure 1 . The eleven land ports of entry between Texas and Mexico. United States and Mexico residents traveling between the "sister cities" located along the U.S.-Mexico border add to the volume of cross-border traffic. (See Figure 2 .) The sister cities in Texas and Mexico, from west to east are as follows: (the first city is in Texas, and the second is immediately across the border in Mexico) El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Presidio and Ojinaga, Del Rio and Ciudad Acuna, Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, McAllen and Reynosa, and Brownsville and Matamoros. Residents of the United States and Mexico frequently cross the border between sister cities on personal business, and a number of U.S. residents cross the border daily to work in maquiladora plants in northern Mexico.

(See text box .) DTOs and criminal groups frequently attempt to conceal smuggling activities by crossing the border between these sister cities at peak traffic times. Figure 2 . "Sister cities" in the United States and Mexico. Maquiladora Plants Maquiladora plants, or maquiladoras, use duty-free materials and components from foreign suppliers to manufacture finished products such as electronics, textiles, and automobile parts that are returned to the foreign suppliers. If the finished products are exported from Mexico into the United States, duty is paid only on the products' value-added content. There are more than 3,200 maquiladoras in Mexico employing more than 1 million individuals. Most of these plants are located close to the border. The two maquiladoras with the largest number of employees are located in Ciudad Juarez (in Chihuahua) and Tijuana (in Baja California Norte). In 2001 the number of workers employed in these two plants accounted for 40 percent of the total Mexican maquiladora workforce. Largely because of its multifaceted transportation infrastructure and its proximity to foreign production areas, Texas is a national distribution center for illicit drugs.

Drug traffickers commonly use private vehicles and commercial trucks to smuggle illicit drugs into and through the state. DTOs and criminal groups generally use Interstates 10, 20, 25, 30, and 35, as well as U.S. Highways 59, 77, 83, and 281 as primary routes for transporting drugs throughout Texas and from Texas to other regions of the country. Interstate 10 spans the entire country, connecting Texas with Los Angeles, California, in the west and Jacksonville, Florida, in the east. Interstate 20, which splits from I-10 approximately 170 miles east of El Paso, provides a direct route through Dallas to Shreveport, Louisiana; Birmingham, Alabama; and Atlanta, Georgia. The West Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) has identified these cities as destinations for drugs transiting western Texas. Interstate 25, which splits from I-10 approximately 40 miles west of El Paso, provides a direct route to Albuquerque, New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; and points north.

Interstate 30 originates in Dallas and provides access to eastern and northern states via other major highways that frequently are used to transport drugs. Interstate 35 extends from Laredo, located along the U.S.-Mexico border, north through the United States to northern Minnesota near the U.S.-Canada border. US 77 begins in Brownsville and extends to Waco, terminating at I-35, while US 281 originates in McAllen, passes through San Antonio and ends at I-44 in Wichita Falls. US 59 is slated for transition to I-69. If all phases of construction continue as planned, this highway will extend from the U.S.-Mexico border at Laredo to the U.S.-Canada border at International Falls, Minnesota. Seizures of illicit drugs and drug proceeds are common on Texas highways. According to data from Operations Pipeline and Convoy (see text box ), in 2000 state and local law enforcement officers in Texas seized 66,248 kilograms of illicit substances from private and commercial vehicles traveling on Texas highways.

Marijuana accounted for 63,514 kilograms of the illicit substances seized on Texas highways, and most of the highway drug interdictions occurred along I-10. In 2000 law enforcement officials throughout the country reporting to Operations Pipeline/Convoy also seized more than $15.8 million in U.S. currency destined for locations in Texas, including a seizure of $2.7 million from a tractor-trailer traveling on US 60 destined for El Paso. The largest Texas Highway Patrol currency seizure in 2002 occurred on November 15, when officers seized more than $3.2 million from a rental truck traveling on US 77 in San Patricio County. To Top To Contents Texas has 21 international airports, which include the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the El Paso International Airport, and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. There are also more than 1,800 commercial and private airports and hundreds of private airstrips in Texas. Drug traffickers often use these airports and airstrips to smuggle illicit drugs into the state. Moreover, traffickers establish clandestine airstrips on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border to further facilitate their drug smuggling efforts.

The Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC), which uses radar to track aircraft approaching the U.S.-Mexico border, reports that aircraft often fade from radar near the border and appear to land at airports, airfields, and remote locations in Mexico. Many fades are indicative of traffickers moving drugs to locations near the border and offloading the shipments into vehicles for smuggling overland into Texas. According to AMICC, drugs typically are seized by U.S. or Mexican authorities at or near the fade area within 72 hours after fade activity is noticed on radar. Occasionally, pilots land at remote locations in Texas, including abandoned airstrips or long stretches of highways. Operations Pipeline, Convoy, and Jetway Operation Pipeline is a national highway interdiction program supported by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC). Drug seizures from private vehicles are reported to Operation Pipeline primarily by state and local law enforcement agencies operating nationwide along the highways and interstates most frequently used to transport illegal drugs and drug proceeds. Operation Convoy is an EPIC-supported highway interdiction program involving commercial vehicles. Drug seizures are reported to Operation Convoy by participating state and local law enforcement agencies that seize drugs from commercial vehicles along major U.S. highways.

Operation Jetway is an EPIC-supported domestic interdiction program. Drug seizures are reported to Operation Jetway by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies across the nation at airports, train stations, bus stations, package shipment facilities, U.S. Post Offices, and airport hotels and motels. Commercial shipping is prevalent in the Gulf of Mexico, presenting an additional threat of drug smuggling to the state. The Port of Houston is Texas' principal port on the Gulf of Mexico and in 2000 ranked first nationally in volume of foreign trade. It also ranked first among the Gulf of Mexico ports in the number of processed shipping containers; more than 1,057,869 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container traffic were processed at the Port of Houston during 2001, a 9 percent increase from 1999 when 968,530 TEUs were processed. The Rio Grande River and Texas' Intracoastal Waterway also are vulnerable to drug trafficking. The Rio Grande flows for 1,885 miles from southwestern Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico. It passes through New Mexico and forms a natural boundary between Mexico and Texas.

Traffickers often float bundles of marijuana across the river, or they walk, swim, or drive shipments across in low-water crossing areas. Texas' Intracoastal Waterway system extends 426 miles from Sabine Pass to the mouth of the Brownsville Ship Channel at Port Isabel, enabling traffickers to use small vessels and pleasure craft to transport illicit drugs into and from southern Texas. Illicit drugs also are smuggled into and through Texas via commercial aircraft, buses, passenger trains, and package delivery services. Operation Jetway data (see text box ) indicate that in 2000, law enforcement officers in Texas seized 12,341 kilograms of illicit substances that were transported (or intended for transport) aboard commercial aircraft, buses, trains, or via package delivery services. The amount of marijuana seized as part of Operation Jetway (11,659 kg) accounted for 94 percent of the illicit substances seized as part of the program in 2000.

Traffickers also smuggle illicit drugs by rail across the Texas portion of the U.S.-Mexico border; however, according to EPIC, the extent to which DTOs and criminal groups use railcars to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border is a significant intelligence gap. Northbound railcar crossings into Texas from Mexico increased 45 percent from 145,112 in 1997 to 211,023 in 2001. Moreover, there are five rail-only bridges along the Texas portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. These bridges, located at Brownsville, Eagle Pass, El Paso, Laredo, and Presidio, handle approximately 80 percent of the rail traffic that enters the United States from Mexico. To Top To Contents Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the dominant transporters of illicit drugs into Texas. They also control the wholesale, midlevel, and retail distribution of drugs in the state. These DTOs and criminal groups use familial ties and extensive connections among organizations and groups to transport and distribute significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana throughout Texas.

Various other DTOs, criminal groups, outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), street gangs, prison gangs, and local independent dealers also transport significant quantities of illicit drugs into the state for distribution. Public health data indicate that drug-related treatment admissions in Texas increased from 1998 through 2002. According to the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA), the number of adult (18 and over) drug-related treatment admissions (not including alcohol) to publicly funded facilities in the state increased from 22,049 in 1998 to 27,530 in 2002. Of the 27,530 adult admissions, 4,191 were for marijuana, 3,280 were for powdered cocaine, 8,984 were for crack, 3,186 were for amphetamine/methamphetamine, 5,127 were for heroin, 75 were for MDMA, and the remaining 2,687 admissions were for other illicit and licit drugs, not including alcohol.

Despite increased drug treatment admissions, survey data indicate that the percentage of Texas residents who reported having abused an illicit drug was lower than the percentage nationwide. According to combined data from the 1999 and the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA), 4.9 percent of Texas residents aged 12 and older reported having abused an illicit drug in the month prior to the survey, compared with 6.3 percent nationwide. Drug-related crimes have increased in Texas. The number of arrests in the state for the possession or sale of illicit drugs increased from 1997 through 2001, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS). In 1997 there were 9,414 arrests for the sale of illicit drugs and 88,932 arrests for the possession of illicit drugs. In 2001 there were 10,034 arrests for the sale of illicit drugs and 93,888 arrests for the possession of illicit drugs. According to the U.S.

Sentencing Commission (USSC), in fiscal year (FY) 2001, 47 percent of the federal sentences in Texas were for drug-related offenses--higher than the national rate of 41 percent. Marijuana offenses accounted for the majority (64%) of the drug-related federal sentences in the state in FY2001. Illicit drug abuse has a significant impact on the state's economy. According to estimates published by TCADA in January 2003, abuse of illicit drugs cost the state $9.5 billion in 2000. These costs include actual or estimated costs for drug treatment and care, reduced or lost productivity, crime, premature death, law enforcement, property damage, motor vehicle accidents, and social welfare administration costs. RIO GRANDE | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Site RIO GRANDE RIO GRANDE.

The Rio Grande rises in Rio Grande National Forest, San Juan County, Colorado (at 37°47' N, 107°32' W), as a clear, spring and snow-fed mountain stream 12,000 feet above sea level. Its origin is at the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains. The river cuts through the middle of New Mexico to the site of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, at the junction of Chihuahua and Texas. At that point, because of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), which terminated the Mexican War , the Rio Grande becomes the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. It forms the western or southern border of the Texas counties of El Paso, Hudspeth, Presidio, Brewster (where the river's sweeping curve gives Big Bend National Park its name), Terrell, Val Verde, Kinney, Maverick, Webb, Zapata, Starr, Hidalgo, and Cameron. The river empties into the Gulf of Mexico (at 25°57' N, 97°09' W).

The Rio Grande has been known by many names over time and in different parts of its course. The Pueblo Indians called it Posoge (sometimes spelled P'Osoge), which meant "big river." The expedition of Hernando de Alvarado called it Río de Nuestra Señora in 1540. It was called the River of May by three British sailors in 1568; in 1581 the Agustín Rodríguez expedition called it the Río de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción and the Río Guadalquivir. By 1598 the Spanish were calling its lower course the Río Bravo, and in modern Mexico it is still known by that name or as the Río Bravo del Norte (bravo denotes "wild, bold, turbulent, restless"). In 1582 an expedition headed by merchant Antonio de Espejo traveled the Río Conchos to its mouth on a river he called Río del Norte ("River of the North") and Río Turbio ("Turbulent River").

Juan de Oñate is thought to have been the first to call it the Rio Grande, when in 1598 he reached its banks near the site of future El Paso. These names were later consolidated to Río Grande del Norte. It was the Rio Grande that Fernando del Bosque (see BOSQUE-LARIOS EXPEDITION ) named the Río de San Buenaventura del Norte in 1675, and that Father Damián Massanet may have called the Río Ganapetuán in 1691. The river was also called the Río Caudaloso ("carrying much water"), and on a 1700 map it appeared as Río del Norte y de Nuevo Mexico. The Rio Grande was never explored as a single unit by any one person or group. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca is believed to have crossed it in 1535 or 1536, and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540.

Spanish Governor Juan Bautista de Anza examined it in 1779, as did Zebulon Montgomery Pike in 1806 and John Charles Frémont in 1849. However, the river was not well mapped before the extensive work of the American and Mexican boundary commissions made necessary by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and again by the Gadsden Purchase of 1853–54. Maj. William Hemsley Emory and José Salazar y Larregui served as boundary commissioners for the United States and Mexico, respectively, during the second survey (see RIO GRANDE BOUNDARY ). The French, on the basis of La Salleqv's accidental landing on the Texas coast, made half-hearted attempts to claim that Louisiana extended to the Rio Grande. The claim was still mentioned as late as 1803, the time of the Louisiana Purchase, and was not definitely renounced until the Adam-Onís Treatyqv of 1819, though for more than two centuries the Rio Grande had been claimed by Spain, which had exercised considerable control of the river during much of that time.

In 1836 Texas put forth a claim, which set aside the documentary testimony of more than a century, for the Rio Grande from mouth to source as the southwestern and western boundary of the state. Stephen F. Austin , writing as secretary of state of the Republic of Texas to William H. Wharton , who was in the United States attempting to secure annexation for Texas, instructed Wharton to compromise on the southwestern boundary if he thought such a move would help get Texas into the Union. During the republic, little settlement was made below the Nueces; the Rio Grande was never actually under Texan control until authority was established by Gen. Zachary Taylor at the beginning of the Mexican War. The Rio Grande was finally recognized by Mexico as the Texas boundary in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the twenty-second longest river in the world and the fourth or fifth longest in North America. It drains more than 40,000 square miles in Texas alone. In the late 1980s the population along its banks exceeded five million. The river flows for 175 miles in Colorado and 470 miles in New Mexico.

Though the length from its headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico varies as its course changes, in the late 1980s, according to the International Boundary and Water Commission , its total length was 1,896 miles. The official border measurement ranges from 889 to 1,248 miles, depending on how the river is measured. In a sense, the Rio Grande is two streams. It dwindles to nearly nothing at Presidio, and only water from the Río Conchos, coming out of Mexico, sustains its journey to the Gulf. Its principal tributaries are the Pecos, Devils, Chama, and Puerco rivers in the United States, and the Conchos, Salado, and San Juan in Mexico. Major cities and towns alongside the river are Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Socorro, Truth or Consequences, Mesilla, and Las Cruces in New Mexico; and El Paso, Presidio, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo, Rio Grande City, McAllen, and Brownsville in Texas.

In Mexico the primary towns and cities are Ciudad Juárez, Ojinaga, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, Camargo, Reynosa, and Matamoros. Mexican states bordered by the Rio Grande are Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. In 1980 Ciudad Juárez was the largest city on the Rio Grande as well as on the international boundary, and El Paso, Texas, was the second largest city on the border. The two cities would constitute one of the world's major metropolitan areas if the Rio Grande did not divide them. Principal crops vary along the river. Colorado and northern New Mexico grow potatoes and alfalfa. Southern New Mexico and West Texas specialize in cotton, peppers, onions, and pecans. The lower Rio Grande valley raises citrus fruits, vegetables, and cotton. Agriculture and cattle raising are the leading industries along the entire Rio Grande, although maquiladoras are rapidly becoming the leading employer, especially in Mexico. The Rio Grande has never been navigable except near its mouth and, on rare occasions, to Laredo.

From the San Juan Mountains in Colorado to Albuquerque, New Mexico, it is primarily a torrent flanked by spectacular gorges and mountain slopes. South of Albuquerque, however, the land flattens and supports desert flora-mesquite, creosote brush, cactus, and yucca. The water is impounded behind Elephant Butte and Caballo dams near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, and the river downstream is used for irrigation in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico and the ninety-mile-long El Paso-Juárez valley, the oldest irrigated area in the state. In this valley are Ysleta, Socorro, and San Elizario, the three oldest towns in Texas. Sixty thousand acre-feet of irrigation water is annually promised by treaty to Mexican farmers near Juárez, although during periods of low snow melt-off in Colorado, this figure is reduced proportionately (see RIO GRANDE WATER APPORTIONMENT ). At Presidio the Rio Conchos enters the nearly empty Rio Grande channel and races toward the canyonlands of the Big Bend National Park.

A 191.2-mile strip of the American bank called Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River begins in Big Bend National Park and runs downstream to the Terrell-Val Verde county line. The area is administered by the National Park Service, though without federal facilities. The area had 525 daily visits and 4,329 overnight stays in 1990. South of Redford (formerly Polvo), the Bofecillos Mountains and the Chihuahua Mountains converge to form Colorado Canyon . From there the churning Rio Grande cuts through Santa Elena, Mariscal, and Boquillas canyons.qqv Ahead still are smaller, white-water canyons such as Horse, Big, and Reagan canyons.qqv Below Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Laredo the Rio Grande skirts huge cattle ranches and farms. Broad, open valleys are the rule. The river is meandering, brown, sluggish. The scenery becomes tropical and extremely fertile; citrus groves are prominent. The river terminates in a delta at the Gulf. All along the border, and especially in the lower Rio Grande valley, bancosqv have been a serious problem.

These wide, usually brushy curves shaped like horseshoes or oxbows have frequently overflowed and formed new channels. Defining the exact international border became a serious issue not solved until the banco treaty of 1905. Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico opened in 1916 and was to provide a steady supply of irrigation water on demand. In 1933 the United States and Mexico approved the Rio Grande Rectification treaty (see RIO GRANDE RECTIFICATION PROJECT ), which essentially straightened the channel east of El Paso. The length of this part of the river was reduced from 155.2 miles to 85.6 miles, and the era of King Cotton and economic prosperity began. The subsequent Rio Grande Canalization Project straightened the Rio Grande in New Mexico from Caballo Dam south to the Texas line, roughly 100 miles. Significant agricultural help arrived for Southwest Texas in 1932, when the United States and Mexico agreed on the Lower Rio Grande Valley Flood Control Project. It strengthened and raised levees and dredged the channel and floodways.

The Mexican-United States Treaty of February 3, 1944, committed both countries to the construction of two Rio Grande dams: Falcon and Amistad. The reservoirs were designed for storage capacities of five million or more acre-feet. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Aldolfo Ruiz Cortines dedicated Falcon Dam in October 1953. It is fifty miles downstream from Laredo, Texas. Not far downstream is Mission Reservoir, at Mission, Texas. Amistad (Friendship) Dam was finished in 1969 and is twelve miles northwest of Del Rio. At El Paso the Rio Grande caused friction in the 1870s, when the river bit deep into the banks of Mexico and gradually transferred land to the United States. The famous Chamizal dispute was not settled until 1963, when 437 acres was ceded from downtown El Paso to Mexico. The agreement economically strengthened both cities. The international border at the two cities is now lined with concrete so that the river will never again shift its channel. A similar, but not well-publicized, incident over boundary differences took place at the twin cities of Presidio and Ojinaga.

It was settled by a 1970 treaty with Mexico authorizing a land swap called the Ojinaga Cut (or Tract), which totaled 8.3 miles. Texas gave up 1,606.9 acres and Mexico 252 acres. The treaty also provided for an international floodway of fifteen miles to stabilize the border further. Binational Population Data in Sister Cities along the Rio Grande - TCEQ - You are here: Home / Environmental Issues in the U.S.-Mexico Border Area / Binational Population Data in Sister Cities along the Rio Grande Info Binational Population Data in Sister Cities along the Rio Grande Population has grown significantly in the sister cities along the binational Rio Grande, which forms the border between Texas and four Mexican states. Population growth in the sister cities that straddle the Rio Grande, which forms the border between Texas and its four neighboring Mexican states—Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas—has been significant in recent decades. The table and bar chart below show the data for seven sister-city pairs for the period 1990-2010 (see map ).

Population Growth in Sister Cities along the Texas-Mexico Border City/Municipio, State All seven Texas population centers 1,422,942 All seven Mexican population centers 1,758,448 Total of seven sister-city pairs 3,181,390 For Comparison - State of Texas 16,986,510 20.6 * When a U.S. city has significant numbers of people living near but not in the city, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is delineated, with boundaries beyond the jurisdiction of the city, and populations are determined for those full MSAs. In this table, MSAs are used instead of cities for those population centers where appropriate. In Mexico, the only subdivision of a state is a municipio; municipios are the only unit of local government and together they cover the entire state. In most cases, a municipio is self-contained with respect to population.

Sources: Data on Texas cities and MSAs were obtained from the website of CensusScope , accessed on April 5, 2011, except for Presidio, which was obtained at the website of the Texas State Data Center , also accessed on April 5, 2011. Data on Mexican municipios were obtained from the website of the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía , accessed on April 5, 2011. Population has grown significantly in the sister cities along the binational Rio Grande, which forms the border between Texas and four Mexican states. Rio Grande - New World Encyclopedia Rio Grande Map of the Rio Grande Watershed. Origin southern Colorado , in Hinsdale County Mouth Gulf of Mexico ; Cameron County, Texas , and Matamoros municipality, Tamaulipas Basin countries 3,034 km (1,885 mi) [1] Source elevation Basin area 607,965 km² (234,737 sq mi) Known as the Rio Grande in the United States and as the Río Bravo (and more formally as Río Bravo del Norte) in Mexico .

The river flows generally southward for 1,885 miles (3,034 km). It is the fourth longest river system in the United States and the fifth longest in North America. Worldwide, it is registered as the 20th longest. The river rises as a snowfall fed mountain stream 3,900 m (12,800 ft) above sea level in Colorado 's San Juan Mountains, in the Rocky Mountain range. Originating in a cold steppe climate, it descends through the Southwestern United States desert before watering rich agricultural regions near its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico . The Rio Grande serves as a major part of the international border between the United States and Mexico dividing 1,254 miles (2,018 km) of the 1,950 miles (3,138 km) border. The boundary follows the middle of the Rio Grande, according to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, "along the deepest channel" from its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico to a point just upstream of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez.

Cities of the Rio Grande include Albuquerque, New Mexico , and the Texas cities of El Paso, Laredo, and Brownsville. Juarez is the most prominent city on the Mexican side of the river. Contents 9 Credits A 191.2 miles (308 km) segment of the Rio Grande was designated a Wild and Scenic River in 1978. This stretch begins in Big Bend National Park , continues through isolated, rugged canyons and the Chihuahuan Desert, and flows through some of the most critical wildlife habitat in the country. In 1997, the entire river was designated an American Heritage River. These designations offer protection to the river's environment and natural resources . Names and pronunciation Río Grande is Spanish for "Big River" and Río Grande del Norte means "Great River of the North." Because "río" means "river" in Spanish, the phrase "Rio Grande River" is redundant.

In Mexico the river is known as Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte, "bravo" meaning "fierce" or "brave." There is a city along its banks that bears its name (Río Bravo, Tamaulipas) located 10 miles east of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and directly across from the Texas city of Donna. Historically, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo has been called: mets'ichi chena, Keresan, "Big River" posoge, Tewa, "Big River" hañapakwa, Towa, "Great Waters" tó ba-ade, Navajo, "Female River" (the direction south is female in Navajo cosmology) Rio del Norte was the most common name for the Upper Rio Grande (roughly, within the present-day borders of New Mexico ) from Spanish colonial times to the end of the Mexican period in the mid-nineteenth century. Its use was first documented in 1582. The use of the modern English name Rio Grande began with the early American settlers in south Texas.

By the late nineteenth century, the name Rio Grande for the entire river, from [Colorado] to the sea, had become standard in the United States . Rio Bravo had become the standard Spanish name for the lower river, below its confluence with the Rio Conchos, by 1602. Geography The Upper Rio Grande near Creede, Colorado The Rio Grande rises in the east Rio Grande National Forest in the U.S. state of Colorado . It is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the continental divide. From there, it flows through the San Luis Valley, then forms the Rio Grande Gorge and White Rock Canyon of northern New Mexico . In New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande Rift from one sediment -filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem in its floodplain . It flows through the cities of Albuquerque and Las Cruces then into Texas.

It is in this stretch that the transition from a cold steppe climate with a vegetation of juniper, piñon pine, and sagebrush to a hot steppe and desert climate characterized by cactus , creosote bush, mesquite, yucca, and other desert flora occurs. At the city of El Paso it begins to form the border between the United States and Mexico . Here the river cuts three canyons between 1,500 and 1,700 feet in depth across the faulted area occupied by the “big bend,” where the Texas side of the river comprises the Big Bend National Park . From El Paso eastward the river flows sluggishly through desert and into a fertile delta where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico . Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture . A major tributary, the Río Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the 1,254 miles (2,018 km) Texas border segment.

Other known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils Rivers, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. The Chama and Puerco Rivers are additional U.S. tributaries, and the Salado and San Juan Rivers flow into the Rio Bravo in Mexico . The Rio Grande's watershed includes 336,000 square miles (870,000 square km). Because much of the basin is arid or semiarid, only about 176,000 sq mi actually contributes to the river’s flow. Exploration The Rio Grande at Bernalillo, New Mexico, with the Sandia Mountains. A European expedition to the Gulf of Mexico coast occurred in 1519, and while it is believed they must have seen the Rio Grande, the maps created on that trip showed only nameless indentations to mark the mouths of rivers . The first time the name Río Bravo appeared was on a 1536 map compiled by a royal Spanish cartographer . Around the same time, the shipwrecked Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and three companions crossed the Rio Grande.

While it is certain they crossed the Rio, the vagueness of Vaca’s records makes it impossible to pinpoint where the crossing occurred. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led an expedition in 1540 to find the rumored rich cities to the north of Mexico , which brought him to the Pecos River area in modern-day New Mexico , where he discovered various Pueblo Indian communities. In-depth exploration of the Rio Grande basin did not occur until just prior to mining and agricultural settlements of the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The earliest settlements began in 1563 in what is now the Mexican state of Chihuahua. These were followed by settlements in the upper Rio Grande area in 1598 (now New Mexico), and finally in 1749 along the lower Rio Grande. Juan Bautista de Anza explored the Rio Grande into the San Luis Valley, not far from its source. However, this 1779 expedition's maps and papers have remained unpublished in the various archives of the Spanish government. Because of this, historians have tended to reference the later expeditions of Zebulon Pike in 1807 and John C.

Frémont in 1848–1849 in the upper Rio Grande area. Careful scientific study of the river commenced only in 1853 when a joint international boundary commission began its fieldwork. Both Mexican and American surveyors took part in this work. International border The Rio Grande in the Laredo Borderplex The Rio Grande in its lower course, between Matamoros (right side) and Brownsville (left side) The international border between the United States and Mexico extends for 3,138 km (1,950 miles). Of this, 1,254 miles (2,018 km) follows the middle of the Rio Grande—according to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between the two nations, "along the deepest channel"—from its mouth on the Gulf of Mexico to a point just upstream of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. With the exception of a small number of minor border disputes, since settled, the current course of the border was finalized by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the 1853 Gadsden Purchase.

An earlier agreement signed during the Mexican War of Independence by the United States and Imperial Spain , was the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty, which defined the border between the republic and the colonial empire following the Louisiana Purchase of 1804. Whether the border between Mexico and the breakaway Republic of Texas followed the Rio Grande or the Nueces River further north was an issue never settled during the existence of that Republic, and the uncertainty was one of the direct causes of the 1846−1848 Mexican–American War . Due to the river changing course several times in recorded history, a number of border disputes, both international and between individual U.S. states developed: The Country Club Dispute was a dispute between Texas and New Mexico . The U.S. Supreme Court ended this dispute in 1927. The Chamizal was a disputed parcel of land between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. This dispute was resolved by treaty in 1963. The Ojinaga Cut was a disputed parcel of land between Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Chihuahua. This dispute was resolved by treaty in 1970.

The Horcon Tract was a parcel of land that included the city of Rio Rico, Texas, which was accidentally placed under Mexican administration because of an irrigation change. This issue, which was technically not a dispute since both sides were in agreement about its legal status, was resolved by treaty ceding the land to Mexico in 1970, but the official handover did not take place until 1977. The major international border crossings along the river are Ciudad Juárez—El Paso; Presidio, Texas—Ojinaga, Chihuahua; Laredo, Texas—Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; McAllen-Hidalgo, Texas—Reynosa, Tamaulipas; and Brownsville, Texas—Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Other notable border towns are the Texas/Coahuila pairings of Del Rio—Ciudad Acuña and Eagle Pass—Piedras Negras. The United States and Mexico share the waters of this river under a series of agreements administered by an international body formed in 1889, known as the International Boundary and Water Commission.

It was created by the Convention of 1889, and given its present name under a 1944 Treaty. Under these agreements, the IBWC has a U.S. section and a Mexican section, headquartered in the adjoining cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The U.S. section is administered by the United States Department of State; the Mexican part by the Secretariat of Foreign Relations of Mexico. Its purpose is to administer the many boundary and water-rights treaties and agreements between the two nations. While Canada has long been recognized as the primary destination for fleeing slaves who used the Underground Railroad , the length and accessibility of this border made it another crossing point. Many enslaved blacks fled over the west Texas mountains and deserts and crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico , seeking haven in that nation's liberal colonization policies and abolitionist stance. [2] Concerns The Rio Grande flowing in Big Bend National Park . The Rio Grande basin has been irrigated since prehistoric times, most notably among the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians in what is now New Mexico . In modern times the lower Rio Grande region has been adversely affected by usage of waters upstream.

As population has increased, and along with it the use of water, a number of treaties have been established. These include: A series of treaties between the U.S. and Mexico in 1905–1907 and 1944–1945. The Rio Grande Compact, an interstate pact signed in 1938 between Colorado , New Mexico and Texas , which regulates and apportions the waters of the subbasin above the site of former Fort Quitman, Texas. The Pecos River Compact of 1948 between New Mexico and Texas, applies to the Pecos River and its tributaries in West Texas (above Girvin). The quality of water entering Texas affects Texas users all the way to Amistad Reservoir on the Rio Grande. Typically all of the average annual production (more than three million acre-feet) in the upper Rio Grande is consumed within this subbasin, including the 60,000 acre-feet allotted by treaty to Mexico . There are stretches along the lower river which have at times had no surface flow. Its depth has varied from nearly 60 feet (18 m) to a bare trickle or nothing.

This has led to a stretch of the river from Fort Quitman to Amistad Dam being nicknamed the "Forgotten River." Early accounts of the river present it as being "wide" and "copious," with backwater sloughs replenished by periodic floods. In recent years this stretch of river has periodically dwindled to a trickle of salty water. In April 2003, the river dried up through Big Bend National Park 's Mariscal Canyon. This is due to both agricultural irrigation and the effects of an invasive species, the saltcedar, which consumes thousands of acre-feet of water. [3] In the summer of 2001 a 330 feet (100 m) wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico . The sandbar was subsequently dredged, but it re-formed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the re-formed sandbar out to sea, but it returned in the summer of 2002.

The river once again reaches the Gulf, but ecologists caution that strict water conservation measures must be adopted by communities along the river in order to preserve the Rio Grande. Notes ↑ Environmental Defense Fund, August 22, 2003, The Forgotten River: The Struggle to Revive a Once Bountiful Oasis. Retrieved January 20, 2009. References Horgan, Paul. 1954. Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History. New York: Rinehart. OCLC 597404 . Kearney, Milo, Anthony K. Knopp, and Antonio Zavaleta. 2006. Further Studies in Rio Grande Valley History. UTB/TSC regional history series, v. 7. Brownsville, TX: University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. OCLC 71280470 . Meinig, D. W. 1986. The Shaping of America: A Geographical Perspective on 500 Years of History. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300104325 Riley, Carroll L.

1995. Rio del Norte: People of the Upper Rio Grande From Earliest Times to the Pueblo Revolt. Salt Lake City: Univ. of Utah Press. ISBN 0874804965 . External links Rio Grande | WaterWiki | Fandom powered by Wikia This article is about the river that empties into the Gulf of Mexico. See Wikipedia:Rio Grande (disambiguation) and Wikipedia:Río Bravo (disambiguation) for other meanings. See Rio Grande (Jamaica) The Rio Grande flowing in Big Bend National Park Known as the Rio Grande (or the redundant Rio Grande River) in the United States and as the Río Bravo (or, more formally, the Río Bravo del Norte) in Mexico, the river , 3034 km long, rises in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, USA, flows through the San Luis Valley , then south into New Mexico through Albuquerque and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas, on the U.S.–Mexico border. A major tributary, Rio Conchos , enters at Presidio, below El Paso and supplies most of the water in the 1000 miles Texas border segment.

The watershed of the Rio Grande is called the Rio Grande Basin . The headwaters region in Colorado may be called the Rio Grande Basin in Colorado . The river has, since 1845, marked the boundary between Mexico and the United States from the twin cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to the Gulf of Mexico . As such, it was across this river that Texan slaves fled when seeking their freedom, aided by Mexico's liberal colonization policies and abolitionist stance. (See [1] (PDF).) The major international border crossings along the river are Ciudad Juárez and El Paso; Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; McAllen-Hidalgo, Texas, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas; and Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Other notable border towns are the Texas/Coahuila pairings of Del Rio–Ciudad Acuña and Eagle Pass–Piedras Negras. The US and Mexico share the waters of this river under a series of agreements administered by the joint US-Mexico Boundary and Water Commission .

Use of that belonging to the US is regulated by the Rio Grande Compact , an interstate compact between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. The Rio Grande is over-appropriated , that is, there are more users for the water than there is water in the river. In times of servere drought the section from El Paso downstream through Big Bend National Park has been dry. Ecologists fear that unless rainfall returns to normal levels during the next few years and strict water conservation measures are adopted by communities along the river, the Rio Grande may soon become extinct. Map of the Rio Grande Watershed The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; El Paso is 1147 m (3762 feet) above sea level . In New Mexico the river flows through the Rio Grande Rift from one sediment -filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem in its floodplain . From El Paso eastward the river flows through desert . Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture . The river ends in a small sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico . During periods of extended dry weather, the river will actually cease flowing into the Gulf.

Millions of years ago, the Rio Grande ended at the bottom of the Rio Grande Rift in Lake Cabeza de Vaca . But about 1 million years ago the stream was "captured" and began to flow east. Which Texas city does the Rio Grande river separate from Mexico? | Reference.com Which Texas city does the Rio Grande river separate from Mexico? A: Quick Answer There are several cities in Texas that are separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande. These cities along the border include El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville. Full Answer According to HowStuffWorks, El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville are "twin border cities" that are adjacent to several cities in Mexico on the opposite side of the Rio Grande. El Paso is adjacent to Ciudad Jurez, Laredo is adjacent to Nuevo Laredo, and Brownsville is adjacent to Matamoros. The Rio Grande was declared the southern border by the republic of Texas in 1836; this in part led to the Mexican War. In 1848, after the war, the Rio Grande became the border between the United States and Mexico thanks to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Question: The cities of Ciudad Jurez, El Paso, Laredo and Brownsville are on the banks of which river?
Answer: Rio Grande