Hooker Dam was a proposed dam on the Gila River in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

, planned as a major component of the

Central Arizona Project The Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a 336 mi (541 km) diversion canal in Arizona in the southern United States. The aqueduct diverts water from the Colorado River to the Bill Williams Wildlife Refuge south portion of Lake Havasu ne ...

. Located near the mouth of the river's canyon upstream from the confluence of the Gila with Mogollon Creek and below Turkey Creek, the dam was to be part of the CAP's Gila River Division, authorized under the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act. The project was planned to provide /year of water to western New Mexico. Hooker Dam was to be located in

Gila National Forest The Gila National Forest is a protected national forest in New Mexico in the southwestern part of the United States established in 1905. It covers approximately of public land, making it the sixth largest National Forest in the continental U ...

near the boundary of the

Gila Wilderness Gila Wilderness was designated the world's first wilderness area on June 3, 1924. Along with Aldo Leopold Wilderness and Blue Range Wilderness, the 558,014 acre (225,820 ha) (872 sq. mi.) wilderness is part of New Mexico's Gila National Forest. ...

. The proposed reservoir would have extended into the Gila Wilderness. Opposition to the dam came from The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club, as well as from Arizona, which did not wish for New Mexico to retain the waters of the Gila. The enabling legislation included the phrase "Hooker Dam or a suitable alternative" to pacify conservationists who objected to the project. Acting on a report from the Carter Administration, Congress deleted funding for Hooker Dam in 1978, but left the project authorization in place. A 1982

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

study indicated that Hooker Dam satisfied no existing need in New Mexico, with a significant environmental impact. As a result, the dam was removed from the CAP by Reclamation. Ground water was expected to satisfy local requirements through 2010, and the dam would impact critical habitat for two species of threatened fish, the spike dace and the

loach minnow The loach minnow (''Rhinichthys cobitis'') is a species of freshwater fish. It is a member of the carp family (family Cyprinidae) of order Cypriniformes. It occurs in streams and small rivers throughout the Gila River and San Pedro River sys ...

. A 2004 agreement between Arizona and New Mexico, the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004, limited New Mexico's consumption of Gila River water to /year, with stipulations on minimum pass-through flows, all subject to a reserve of in Arizona's

San Carlos Lake San Carlos Lake was formed by the construction of the Coolidge Dam and is rimmed by of shoreline. The lake is located within the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, and is thus subject to tribal regulations. After it was built, the reservoi ...

. New Mexico is to present a plan to develop its rights by 2014; none of the options presently being considered involve a major dam. Water would be diverted from the Gila through perforated pipes in an infiltration gallery, or simply pumped from the river.

References

{{authority control United States Bureau of Reclamation proposed dams Buildings and structures in Grant County, New Mexico