Rectification of the Papaloapan River in Mexico

In order to curb the frequent inundations of the fertile valley lands along the Papaloapan River, State of Veracruz (Ver.)., Mex., the Papaloapan River Commission has undertaken a project to effect a lowering of flood stages by cutting off the worst bends of this meandering river. This project is to be supplemented eventually with flood-water storage on the tributaries for the dual purpose of flood control and the generation of electric energy. The rectification program, as regards procedure, is similar to that adopted on the lower Mississippi River. Only pilot cuts have been excavated, and the final enlargement of these cuts, together with the closure of the abandoned river channels, is left to the river to accomplish. Six cutoffs in the process of development will shorten the 120-mile stretch of river 34 miles. When fully developed, the lowering of flood stage is conservatively estimated to range from 1.5 ft at the head of the tidal reach, increasing upstreamward to a reduction of as much as 6 ft where the confluence of the Santo Domingo and Tonto rivers forms the Papaloapan River. A stage lowering approximating this magnitude was actually accomplished in this locality at the crest of the great flood of October, 1950, although none of the cutoffs was as yet fully developed.