Guanajuato River

The Guanajuato's River (Spanish: Rio Guanajuato) is a tributary of the Lerma River in the central near region of Mexico called the Bajio (Lowlands). The river begins in the silver-rich Guanajuato mountains near the state capital of Guanajuato City. The river is fed by the Guanajuato river basinca (in Spanish: cuenca) (a sub-basin to the much larger ) and has an area of 3,320 km², which makes up approximately 10.32% of the total area of the state.^[1][2] There are approximately 900,000 people living in the Guanajuato River basin area, in the municipalities of Guanajuato, Irapuato, Romita, San Francisco del Rincon, Manuel Doblado and Pueblo Nuevo.^[3]

History/Culture[]

The river used to run underneath the capital city of Guanajuato. It used to flood the downtown area with alarming frequency until a dam () was built in the 1960s to contain it. The famous , officially known as , in Guanajuato now follows the original course of the river where it ran in tunnels underneath the city.^[4][5]

There is another dam above the city called the Presa de la Olla (in English: Pot Dam). The dam, which was inaugurated in 1749, was built to create a reservoir to provide the city with a constant supply of water.^[6] Every year on the first Monday in July, the dam's floodgates are opened as part of a yearly festival (in Spanish: Apertura de la Presa). Originally the dam was opened to clean the river which runs through the city.^[7] It is now a standing Guanajuato tradition.^[8]

References[]

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