N.M. water use could drain desert oasis, group says
Shaun McKinnon
Growing demands for water in southwestern New Mexico are threatening
the survival of the Gila River and have landed the iconic desert
waterway a spot on the annual list of the country's most endangered
rivers.
In releasing the list today, American Rivers said a proposed
water-diversion project on the upper Gila "could deplete a desert
oasis" and stick taxpayers with an unnecessary debt with few benefits.
"While all of the Southwest is facing serious water-supply problems,
compounded by global climate change, draining the Gila simply isn't the
answer," said Rebecca Wodder, president of the national conservation
advocacy group.
The Gila, which flows out of New Mexico on a 649-mile journey
to the Colorado River near Yuma, is the third Arizona river in five
years included on the endangered list. The Colorado was named the
nation's most endangered river in 2004, and the Verde claimed a spot in
2006.
The Catawba-Wateree River in North Carolina and South Carolina, facing
increased water demands of its own, was named most endangered river of
2008.
American Rivers focused on the uppermost reaches of the Gila, where the
river still flows freely and where cottonwood and sycamore riparian
areas thrive. In 1998, the U.S. Forest Service removed grazing cattle
from along the river, which has allowed riparian habitat to recover.
"There are wonderfully pristine areas," said Allyson Siwik, executive
director of the Gila Conservation Coalition in Silver City, N.M., not
far from the river's headwaters. "There are no dams, no reservoirs. . .
. It is pretty phenomenal."
Destructive tamarisk has choked the drier middle and lower Gila in
Arizona, but the invasive plant can't compete with the natural flow and
vegetation of the upper river, Siwik said.
Although there have been many proposals to build a dam and divert more
water from the upper Gila and its tributary, the San Francisco River,
the threat grew more real in 2004 when Congress approved the Arizona
Water Settlements Act.
The measure settled claims with several Indian tribes and affirmed New
Mexico's right to take about 14,000 acre-feet of water from the Gila
and San Francisco. The bill also set aside at least $66 million and up
to $128 million to pay for future water projects.
New Mexico's state water agency studied plans to divert water from the
Gila until last year when Gov. Bill Richardson said that no dam would
be built on the Gila as long as he was in office. Still, activists fear
what might happen under another administration. Some water managers say
New Mexico needs to claim its share of the river rather than allow it
to flow into Arizona.
Siwik said cheaper alternatives could provide water to the region
without damaging the river. She said that when farmers in one basin
converted to drip irrigation, they saved 30,000 acre-feet of water in
the first five years, reducing their energy costs at the same time. An
acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough water to supply one or two
households for a year.
The upper Gila harbors a mostly intact native-fish population, a rarity in the Southwest, and is home to an array of wildlife.
"The pieces are all here," said Todd Schulke, who works on the issue for the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity.
"It's more intact than most rivers in the Southwest. This is one of
those rare situations where leaving the river alone will allow it to
return to its natural state."
A free-flowing stretch in eastern Arizona is protected as the Gila Box
Riparian National Conservation Area, but the river begins to dry up as
it crosses Arizona. Little water flows below Coolidge Dam, southeast of
Globe, and the riverbed turns to dust for long stretches.
The river, which once marked the boundary between the United States and
Mexico, hasn't reached the Colorado River on its own in decades.
American Rivers' announcement comes a week after Gov. Janet Napolitano declared April as Arizona Rivers Month.
"The quality of life in Arizona is particularly enhanced by the
vitality of our precious and rare flowing rivers," Napolitano said in a
statement accompanying her proclamation.
