American Canal

The American Canal is an irrigation canal in the Upper Rio Grande Valley near El Paso, Texas. The canal acquires water from the Rio Grande from the American Diversion Dam at the Texas–New Mexico–Mexico border, 2 miles northwest of downtown El Paso. The canal supplies the majority of the raw water to El Paso’s Johnathan-Roger Water Treatment Plant. It also mitigates flooding in south El Paso neighborhoods. The canal travels along the Rio Grande for 2.1 miles where it flows into the Franklin Canal and the rest of the canal network. Construction of the canal dates back to 1938.