Rio Grande Facts

The Rio Grande is 1,896-mile long, the fifth longest river in the United States

The Rio Grande's watershed encompasses 335,000 square miles. It drains more than 40,000 square miles in Texas alone.

A 1,250 mile segment of the river forms the international boundary between Mexico and the United States.

The Rio Grande begins in the Colorado mountains, courses through New Mexico, forms the border between Texas and Mexico, and flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

Historically, the river flowed continuously from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico until the early 1900s when construction of dams, channelization, human consumption, and landuse practices altered the flow of the river.

At present, the Upper Rio Grande virtually stops in El Paso/Ciudad Juarez and resumes significant flows at the confluence with the Rio Conchos 250 miles downstream.

Its principal tributaries are the Pecos, Devils, Chama, and Puerco rivers in the United States, and the Conchos, Salado, and San Juan in Mexico.

The principal cities along 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 principal cities are Ciudad Juárez, Ojinaga, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, Camargo, Reynosa, and Matamoros.

The Rio Grande was listed among the nation's Most Endangered Rivers in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, and 2003.

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