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The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act
The measures to be taken by the United States pursuant to Minute No.
242 included construction of a major desalting plant near Yuma, Arizona,
to treat the bulk of the Wellton-Mohawk drainage water; lining or
construction of a new lined Coachella Canal in California to salvage
approximately 132,000 acre-feet of water annually; reduction of the
irrigable acreage in Wellton-Mohawk from 75,000 to 65,000 irrigable
acres and improved efficiency in the District; and construction of a well
field along the southern border of the United States similar to that
constructed by Mexico on its side of the border. All of these measures
are in progress as a result of the enactment of the Colorado
River Basin Salinity Control Act, signed by the President on June 24,
1974, 88 Stat. 266. In addition, the Act made replacement of the reject
stream from the desalting plant a national obligation (approximately
40,000 acre-feet per year) similar to the national obligation to satisfy
the Mexican Treaty obligation in the Colorado River Basin Project Act.
A key provision is the right of the United States to use water salvaged
by the Coachella Canal lining during an interim period until California's
water deliveries are reduced. This would compensate for the over-deliveries
to Mexico caused by the bypass of drainage waters. Although the
Administration had preferred a bill to deal only with the Mexican
salinity problem, the Congress, at the urging of the Basin States,
authorized salinity control programs upstream from Imperial Dam.
These comprised the Paradox Valley Unit and the Grand Valley Unit, both
in Colorado; the Crystal Geyser Unit in Utah; and the Las Vegas Wash Unit
in Nevada. Planning reports were to be expedited for four irrigation
source control units, three point source control units, and five diffuse source
control units. A Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Advisory
Council was created by the Act which would receive, as would the President
and Congress, the biennial reports from the Secretary on the progress of
the salinity control program. The Council would review and comment thereon and
make recommendations to the Secretary and the Environmental Protection
Agency.
In 1984 the Act was amended to direct and authorize the Secretary of
Agriculture to conduct a voluntary on-farm salinity control program.
That program provides for voluntary replacement of fish and wildlife
values foregone as on-farm irrigation improvements are made. The act
directs that preference be given to those salinity control projects which
are the most cost-effective (least cost per ton of salt reduction).
In 1995 the Act was amended to broaden the Bureau of Reclamation’s
authorities to initiate and provide funding for salinity control projects. '
Referred to as the “Basinwide Salinity Control Program,” the Bureau
of Reclamation was authorized to issue requests for proposals for non- governmental
entity-sponsored salinity control projects. The Program has been very successful in
allowing cost-effective salinity projects to be implemented.
In 1996, the USDA’s line-item Colorado Salinity Control Program was
combined with three other USDA programs into the newly-created
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Congress directed that
the functions of these four programs continue to be carried out in the EQIP.
This amendment also provided for u-front cost-sharing by the Upper and
Colorado River Basin Development Funds. Prior to this amendment, monies
in the Basin Funds were only used for repayment of previously-spent Federal
salinity control project funding.
At least 51 percent of the funding for the USDA salinity control on-
farm projects is non-federal, in that there is a 30 percent up-front
cost share by the participant, and there is a 30 percent sharing of
the 70 percent that is Federally funded by the "Federal Assistance"
dollars provided for cost-share contracts through the EQIP. It is
important to note that 85 percent of the 70 percent reimbursable
share is paid for from the Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund,
as created by the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act. The bulk of
the water quality maintenance savings and economic detriments of salinity
occur in the Lower Basin, hence only 15 percent of the cost-sharing comes
from the Upper Colorado River Basin Development Fund, created by Section 5
of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Act of 1956.
Water Quality Standards for Salinity in the Colorado River
System:
In December 1974, the EPA promulgated a regulation requiring the Basin
States to adopt numeric criteria that, along with an implementation plan
for their achievement, would maintain salinity at or below the 1972 level
in the lower Colorado River mainstem. EPA's general counsel interpreted the
1972 Clean Water Act to require each Basin State to adopt salinity
standards and for a short time agency policy called for state line standards.
The Seven Basin States, acting as the Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Forum, adamantly opposed state-line standards and argue for a
basin-wide approach. The main basis for this opposition was that it
would create injury to the continuing ability of the States
to develop their compact-apportioned water supplies and put the water
to beneficial consumptive uses, as opposed to using the water for water
quality maintenance, i.e., dilution is not the solution to pollution.
The Forum and EPA agreed in 1976 on Colorado River water quality standard.
This agreement was based on non-degradation below the 1972 salinity levels.
The actual basis of the standard's numeric criteria was based on the average
annual flow-weighted flow, and further based on long term water supply
of 15 million acre-feet of water per year. The salinity control program
as authorized in the salinity control standard was not established to
reduce those caused by natural variations or human activities prior to 1972,
but to offset impacts of water development after 1972. For that reason, the
projections of salinity that are made for checking and revising the plan
are based on a mean annual water supply of 15 million acre- feet. The
standard is comprised of plan of implementation and numeric criteria at
three lower basin stations:
BASIN-WIDE SALINITY STANDARDS FOR COLORADO RIVER
SALINITY
Salinity Criteria
Water Quality Station (TDS) (mg/l)
Below Hoover Dam 723
Below Parker Dam 747
Below Imperial Dam 879
The Salinity Control Plan of Implementation is designed to maintain the
numeric criteria at the three Lower Colorado River water quality stations
specified in the standard. It specifies the amount of salinity loading
reduction necessary to maintain the salinity concentrations at or the three
downstream water quality standard stations under anticipated water
development “buildout” conditions. Temporary increases above the
numeric criteria levels at any or all of the downstream stations, under
this basin-wide program, are provided for in the water quality standard for salinity
control in the Colorado River Basin.
The seven-State Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, created by
the Governors of the Basin States in 1972 serves coordination and information
sharing functions. Each of the members of the Forum are gubernatorial-appointed
water quantity or water quality officials or layperson experts.
The Forum generates recommendations and provides oversight on political
support and recommending appropriate funding to ensure continuing maintenance of
the water quality below the numeric criteria. The Forum conducts the triennial
review required by Section 303(c) of CWA and prepare report. The Forum's
purview and objectives are solely related to the Title II provisions of
the Salinity Control Act of 1974, as amended. Responsibility for
maintaining the Minute 242 agreements, and compliance with that international
treaty obligation, is an obligation for which Congress has directed the Secretary
of Interior to proceed in the manner described in Title I of the Salinity Control Act.
Finally, the Forum monitors salinity levels, their changes, and significant
developments in the federal agencies' implementation of the program and
associated effects. The Clean Water Act's (CWA) Section 303 requires Basin
State and EPA review of the water coordinates the States' review, and the
review report is prepared by the Forum’s permanent Work Group.
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