The list below includes 26 Mexican rivers with a length of more than 250 kilometers. With three rivers it should be noted that they arise in the area of other countries, namely the USA and Guatemala , and are partly border rivers; however, their estuary is located on the territory of Mexico. Conversely, there is not a single river in this list that has its source in Mexico but flows into another state.
Basically, it can be stated that the rivers in southern Mexico are not very long, but because of the relatively high amounts of rainfall in Peten and in the Mexican states of Chiapas , Veracruz and Tabasco they carry significant amounts of water. The rivers in northern Mexico, on the other hand, are comparatively long, but due to the prevailing drought in the states of Sonora , Chihuahua , Zacatecas , Coahuila , Querétaro , Michoacán , Durango , Nayarit , Guanajuato , Jalisco and Sinaloa only carry water in the winter rainy season; in the months with little rain they often dry out completely. The extraction of water for agricultural purposes also contributes to the drying up of the rivers in northern Mexico. There are no natural watercourses on the elongated Baja California peninsula , because the little rainwater seeps away immediately or runs off quickly above ground.
There is a lot of rain on the Yucatán peninsula , but it quickly disappears in the cracked limestone soil and only collects over loam and clay layers at a depth of around 15 to 30 meters. There are several subterranean river systems, some of which are considerable, but few surface rivers. The underground watercourses of the Yucatán are accessible via the cenotes, which the Maya worshiped as sacred (see also Balancanché ).
A problem with many rivers in Mexico is the constant and uncontrolled discharge of agricultural, industrial or human sewage ( aguas negras ). Then there is the plastic garbage that can be found everywhere .
Arthur C. Benke and Colbert E. Cushing, Colbert E. (Eds.): Rivers of North America. Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, Massachusetts 2005, pp. 1030-1084, ISBN 978-0-12-088253-3 .
