Damming Sonora: Water, Agriculture, and Environmental Change in Northwest Mexico

Sterling Evans

Louise Welsh Chair, Department of History, University of Oklahoma

This presentation seeks to explore the water history of Sonora, Mexico (just south of Arizona). Every river in the state has been dammed, some more than once. The result is that Sonora, characterized by some of North America’s harshest deserts, is now the most agriculturally productive region of Mexico via intensive irrigation made possible by the dams. Along the way there have been serious social and environmental consequences, all of which are significant aspects of damming Sonora.