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.