# Hooker Dam

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**Hooker Dam** was a proposed dam on the [Gila River](/source/Gila_River) in [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico), planned as a major component of the [Central Arizona Project](/source/Central_Arizona_Project).[1] Located near the mouth of the river's canyon upstream from the confluence of the Gila with Mogollon Creek and below Turkey Creek,[2] 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 18,000 acre.ft/year of water to western New Mexico.[3]

Hooker Dam was to be located in [Gila National Forest](/source/Gila_National_Forest) near the boundary of the [Gila Wilderness](/source/Gila_Wilderness). The proposed reservoir would have extended into the Gila Wilderness.[4] Opposition to the dam came from [The Wilderness Society](/source/The_Wilderness_Society_(United_States)) and the [Sierra Club](/source/Sierra_Club), as well as from Arizona, which did not wish for New Mexico to retain the waters of the Gila.[1] The enabling legislation included the phrase "Hooker Dam or a suitable alternative" to pacify conservationists who objected to the project.[5] Acting on a report from the [Carter Administration](/source/Carter_Administration), Congress deleted funding for Hooker Dam in 1978, but left the project authorization in place. A 1982 [United States Bureau of Reclamation](/source/United_States_Bureau_of_Reclamation) 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.[6] 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](/source/Spike_dace) and the [loach minnow](/source/Loach_minnow).[7]

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 14,000 acre.ft/year, with stipulations on minimum pass-through flows, all subject to a reserve of 30,000 acre.ft in Arizona's [San Carlos Lake](/source/San_Carlos_Lake). New Mexico is to present a plan to develop its rights by 2014; none of the options presently being considered involve a major dam.[1] Water would be diverted from the Gila through perforated pipes in an infiltration gallery, or simply pumped from the river.[8]

## References

1. Widdison, Jerold; Hilton, Joanne; Kelly, S. ["The Gila River"](http://uttoncenter.unm.edu/pdfs/WM_Gila_River.pdf). *Water Matters!*. University of New Mexico.

1. Salmon, Maynard Hubbard (2008). *Gila Libre!: New Mexico's Last Wild River*. University of New Mexico Press. p. 123. ISBN 978-0-8263-4082-5.

1. ["Central Arizona Project"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120416004653/http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Central+Arizona+Project). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Archived from [the original](http://www.usbr.gov/projects/Project.jsp?proj_Name=Central+Arizona+Project) on 16 April 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

1. Reisner, Marc (1993). [*Cadillac Desert: the American West and its disappearing water*](https://archive.org/details/cadillacdesertam00reis). Penguin Books. p. [274](https://archive.org/details/cadillacdesertam00reis/page/274). ISBN 978-1-4406-7282-8.

1. Fradkin, Philip L. (1996). *A River No More: The Colorado River and the West*. University of California Press. p. 65. ISBN 0-520-20564-2.

1. Zuniga, Jennifer E. ["The Central Arizona Project"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120224031232/http://www.usbr.gov/projects//ImageServer?imgName=Doc_1303158888395.pdf). U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Archived from [the original](http://www.usbr.gov/projects//ImageServer?imgName=Doc_1303158888395.pdf) on 24 February 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

1. ["Appendix II: Upper Gila Water Supply Study"](http://www.ose.state.nm.us/publications/97-98-annual-report/append2.htm#gila). *New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, Annual Report 1997-1998*. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

1. Soussan, Tania (March 15, 2004). ["Gila in Demand"](http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/157673nm03-15-04.htm). *Albuquerque Journal*. Retrieved 1 June 2011.

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