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<br />21 <br /> <br /> <br />w <br />w <br />o <br />m <br /> <br />Upper Colorado Region Comprehensive Framework Study (WRC) <br /> <br />This report by the Water Resources Council dated June 1971 states <br /> <br />that salinity is the most serious water quality problem in the <br /> <br />Colorado River Basin. Salt-loading and salt-concentrating effects <br /> <br />of consumptive use or depletion are the primary causes of salinity <br /> <br />increases. Salt loading principally results from salts contributed <br /> <br />from diffuse and point sources of geologic origin and from salts <br /> <br />carried in irrigation return flows. <br /> <br />Future dissolved solids concentrations were estimated for 1980, <br /> <br />2000, and 2020. The TDS concentration at Lees Ferry, Arizona, <br /> <br />assuming no salinity improvement program, is projected at 820 mg/l <br /> <br />for the year 2020, or 40 percent greater than the 1965 concentra- <br /> <br />tion. The major cause of the projected salinity increase is con- <br /> <br />tinued development of the region. It includes the additional stream <br /> <br />depletions for irrigation, thermal power production and export, and <br /> <br />the additional salt leached from newly irrigated lands. <br /> <br />State and Federal representatives in both the upper and lower <br /> <br />Colorado regions agreed that tIle salinity improvement programs <br /> <br />outlined in the Upper and Lower Colorado Framework Study documents <br /> <br />would be part of a basin-wide approach to salinity management. <br /> <br />The salinity improvement program consists of a salt-loading reduction <br />