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Landletter -- Thursday, March 22, 2007 Edition <br />w <br />Page 2 of 2 <br />of damming the river. Proposals to build two dams, including one that would have flooded part of the Gila Wilderness Area, were <br />shelved after critics raised environmental concerns and questioned their cost - effectiveness. Two federally protected fish, the spiked <br />dace and loach minnow, live in the Gila River. <br />Environmentalists argue that development projects are unnecessary to meet water demands in the basin. Siwik said recent studies <br />show that the aquifer beneath the area holds water that can provide for the needs of area several counties for years to come. <br />Tapping the Gila would only provide enough water to supply Silver City and surrounding Grant County, she said. Furthermore, mining <br />has declined in the area, potentially freeing up new water rights that could be purchased to help meet water demand, Siwik added. <br />"I think there's a lot of disagreement over whether we really need water," she said. <br />Craig Roepke chief of the water projects bureau for New Mexico's Interstate Stream Commission, declined to discuss the issue. In a <br />2004 interview with Land Letter, Roepke indicated that the state had little interest in a dam, but that an off - stream reservoir was <br />under consideration. <br />Roepke said preliminary computer modeling suggested that it is possible to divert New Mexico's allotment without significantly <br />altering the ecosystem. <br />Advertisement <br />1 <br />J www.eenews.net <br />EN VI RO NM E NT t� ILY �I Ce'll� '1.r 1 Land � em 1 ,.._ <br />7 , _CG Premle i" ; r- Source fot PrC)i!mslona/s 1.tYho ieacA Env'trot ,',metv l a/ and ner,,'1, L- policv. <br />996, E ; >;;r Priyac_y_Policy Sit_e_M....p <br />http: / /www.eenews. net /Landletter /print/2007/03/22/7 3/22/2007 <br />June 5 & 7, Boston a <br />