Construction of the dam occurred in the 1960s and flooded not only the riverbed but also hectares of rainforest and farmland, various towns and villages and archeological sites.

These include the former town of Quechula, whose 16th century Dominican church will appear when water is at low levels, and the archeological site of San Isidro which contains one of only two known double Mesoamerican ball courts.

[4] The Nezahualcoyotl is the second largest reservoir in Mexico after the Belisario Dominguez,[5] covering an area of 995,000 hectares[6] and with a maximum storage capacity of 9,750 million meters cubed.

[8] The dam and reservoir are located in the mountainous Centro region of the state, mostly in the municipalities of Tecpatán with some in Ocozocoautla, 139 km northwest of Tuxtla Gutiérrez .

[7] The resulting reservoir not only covered the rapids of this area of the Grijalva River, but also fresh water and thermal springs, rainforest, animal habitat, farmland, archeological sites and various towns and villages, with the most significant being Quechula.

[6] The creation of the dam forced the relocation of hundreds of families in the area with most moved to a community called Nuevo Quechula.

Its ball court is significant because it is double, with a nearly square space of eighty by sixty meters, bordered by the traditional sloped walls.

Precipitation in the area is also strongly affected by the weather phenomena of El Niño and La Niña which can significantly raise or lower reservoir levels and the amount of water which flows out of them through the dams.

[18] These two dams serve as a means to control flooding of the river as it heads into Tabasco state,[19] but when reservoirs are dangerously full, it becomes necessary to release large quantities of water.

[14] This water heads to the flat slow draining floodplains of Tabasco, including its capital of Villahermosa and has cause serious flooding problems.

[12] The federal government has invested in the development of ecotourism in the area such as Jun Jnopbentik, which is administered by eight local ejido organizations.

[12] The Chiapas Bridge crosses over the Malpaso Dam reservoir and its part of a federal highway that connects southern Veracruz to Tuxtla Gutierrez.

The bridge is ten meters wide, with eight supports, seven pillars or "jackets" and one strip of concrete fastened onto solid land.