Several articles describing the ancient Chicama-Moche Intervalley Canal in northern coastal Peru are criticized. Tectonic uplift was probably not the primary cause of the abandonment of the canal construction project. The Chimu were skilled engineers. The Intervalley Canal did function in a limited manner. It is proposed that the canal was built as a political response to social pressures in the Moche Valley caused by environmental stress (drought). Abandonment of the canal construction project took place when drought ended.