WSP08880

• File Number: 8277.500.10
• Description: Price and San Rafael Basin Unit - Colorado River Water Quality Improvement Program
• State: UT
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 3/1/1986
• Title: Evaluation of the Incremental Cost Effectiveness of Building a Combined Pressurized Sprinkler Irrigation System to Reduce Salt Loading to the Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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I I The incremental cost effectiveness associated with going from the independent

plan for each agency to the combined plan is $122 per ton which exceeds the

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currently accepted limits for cost effectiveness for other recently approved

salinity control projects.

Under the new legislation, the SCS has the authority to do the entire project.

For the combined plan the ind ications are that the SCS would have a cost

effective program if they were to do it by themselves. However, they probably

would not have support from the farmers because of the cost to the individual

farmers.

A decision on whether to proceed with studying the combined plan should con-

sider that the Price and San Rafael areas are not prime agricultural lands.

There are very few full-time farmers

perhaps less than 10 percent.

Irrigated agriculture has decreased in the area as water has shifted from

agriculture to industrial use. Reclamation is concerned about the long term

viability of the project and whether the farmers could be depended on to main-

tain a sprinkler irrigation plan over a long period of time in order to

achieve the desired salt reduction.

The analysis presented in this report is at the appraisal level and is ade-

quate to determine if we want to proceed with developing the combined plan or

if we have a "no go" situation. If We proceed, we would then be required to

develop a document to determine if we have a truly "go" situation. This docu-

ment would be thoroughly reviewed by technical specialists in the SCS and

I Reclamation.

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