February 12, 2021 Gila diversion group asserts primacy as legislation threatens Written by Geoffrey Plant on February 12, 2021 With a proposal in Santa Fe threatening its very existence, the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project — the group that was formed in 2015 to build the ultimately unsuccessful Gila diversion project — is having to defend the role it could play when it comes to administering the more than $80 million in the N.M. Unit Fund. The massive pot of money is destined to be spent, per the 2004 federal Arizona Water Settlements Act, either on a ※New Mexico Unit,” i.e., a surface water diversion, or on ※other water utilization alternatives to meet water supply demands in the Southwest Water Planning Region of New Mexico.”