In December 2004 President Bush signed the Arizona Water Settlements Act. The Gila Settlement, approved as part of an amendment to the AWSA, provides $66 million to the four counties of southwestern New Mexico -- Catron, Grant, Luna and Hidalgo-- to be used in any way that meets a “water supply demand,” and up to $62 million more should the State build a “New Mexico Unit” or water development project to divert up to 14,000 acre-feet per year of new water from the Gila River and its tributary, the San Francisco. Associated with the Act, the Consumptive Use and Forbearance Agreement would allow at least 10,000 acre-feet per year to be taken from the Gila and up to 4,000 acre-feet per year to be taken from the San Francisco. This project would require a very large pumping station (as lots of water would have to be taken during short periods of high flows), infiltration galleries, a massive pipeline and/or canal system, and an off-stream dam/reservoir holding roughly 50,000 acre-feet in storage.

The Gila Conservation Coalition believes the effort to develop a diversion project on the Gila River is fatally flawed for the following reasons:

A Common-sense Water Plan for Southwestern New Mexico: Four-County Endowment

The Gila Conservation Coalition believes that it is possible to utilize the benefits of the Arizona Water Settlements Act to meet the future water needs of Southwestern New Mexico, while also protecting the Gila River through the Four-County Endowment.

New Mexico should accept the $66 million in AWSA funding and divide it equally between the four counties of Southwestern New Mexico. That would amount to $16.5 million per county. Invested wisely at a mere 6% interest this would yield each county a million dollars per year for virtually any water-related purpose, in perpetuity. As discussed in the Southwestern New Mexico Regional Water Plan and local Water Planning Group meetings, the counties of southwestern New Mexico could use this funding to pursue a range of cost-effective alternatives for meeting future water demand.

Catron County - The Supreme Court in 1963 granted the Gila-San Francisco Basin in New Mexico 30,000 acre-feet of consumptive use to an area that even today holds only about 5,000 people; six acre-feet for every man, woman and child in the region. It is not equitably distributed; nearly 12,000 acre-feet is owned by Phelps Dodge Inc. and it is using no more than half of what it owns. Further, poor watershed conditions (primarily, overgrowth of piñon/juniper), mean the 30,000 acre-feet is not always available. Nonetheless, the basin has thousands of acre-feet of water rights that are not being utilized that could be allocated between mining, residential growth, agriculture, and the river itself. Further, Catron County officials do not want a major water diversion on the San Francisco River but, more sensibly, intend a local forest thinning project to slow run-off with small catch dams, and generally restore the watershed to increase aquifer recharge and river flow. The Four-County Endowment could provide county residents with their share of AWSA funding to implement these projects.

Grant County – The proposed Giver River diversion project would provide less water and cost Grant County far more money than currently available water supplies whose sustainable use could be ensured through the Four-County Endowment. Diverting 10,000 acre-feet of water yearly from the Gila River, storing it despite loss to reservoir evaporation, and then pumping what’s left 30 miles uphill and across the Continental Divide to Silver City would cost a staggering amount of money, beyond what is available through the ASWA, effectively mortgaging Silver City’s future. Silver City currently has a population of about 10,000 yet serves the water needs of 19,000 people with about 2,800 acre-feet per year from aquifer storage in the Mimbres Basin. The February 2006 Balleau Inc. Report, commissioned by Silver City, indicates the town sits astride the Mimbres-Mangas trench, an underground reservoir of some 15.2 million acre-feet with an annual recharge of some 16,000 acre-feet, a flow that exceeds the proposed river diversion. In perspective, 10,000 acre-feet is less than one tenth of one percent of 15 million acre-feet. According to an ECONorthwest report produced for the Gila Conservation Coalition (2005), Gila River water would be 16 times more expensive than aquifer water and would impose an additional $268 million in cost on Grant County residents. Silver City needs money to acquire new water rights and drill new wells for the future. The Four-County Endowment would enable the town to purchase or lease Phelps Dodge river water, which already has a delivery system in place and river water rights that are not being used.

Luna and Hidalgo Counties Both the Deming and Lordsburg areas are too far away for Gila River water; and, since the diversion project is estimated at construction costs of from $220 to $300 million dollars there would be no money left over for them after the project would be built. Both counties use most of their water for agricultural irrigation (over 80%). They could save 40% to 50% of this water by switching from flood irrigation to drip irrigation and thereby eliminate groundwater depletion. The Four-County Endowment could provide the funding for Luna and Hidalgo counties to implement conversion to drip irrigation and other water-related priorities.

The Gila River is the last largely unregulated mainstem river in New Mexico -- our last natural river -- with unparalleled fish, wildlife, and recreation values. These values can be preserved and enhanced, and human water needs planned and served for centuries, with the Four-County Endowment.