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The Nazas River is a river located in northern Mexico, in the states of Coahuila and Durango. It is part of the Endorheic basin Bolsón de Mapimí. It is only long, but irrigates an area of in the middle of the desert. The Nazas is also nurtured by the San Juan, Ramos, Potreritos, del Oro, Nazas, Santiago, Tepehuanes River and Peñón Blanco rivers. The river starts at the Sierra Madre Occidental. The aboriginal title for this stream is Tlahualilo, coming from the Nahuatl words tlalli meaning "fertile land" and ahualila, meaning "water for irrigation".
The Nazas has served as one of the most important natural resources enabling development in the Comarca Lagunera since the middle of the 19th century. All of its waters are locked in Francisco Zarco and Lázaro Cardenas dams, both located in Durango, which have significantly reduced the once mighty flow of the river. However, Coahuila receives an annual share by mutual agreement between the state governments. Indeed, on its course, the Nazas fills smaller water bodies like the Palmito dam (in Torreón) and the Santiaguillo lagoons. The river ends in the now-drained Mayrán Lagoon and the Caimán Lakes in the Tlahualilo region.
The river was an important shooting location for the film The Wild Bunch (1969). In the celebrated scene where a bridge is dynamited, the Nazas stands in for the Rio Grande.
There is an amateur annual kayak competition on the Nazas River between the cities of Rodeo and Lerdo in Durango.
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