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<br />ON-FARM SALINITY CON;ROL INVESTIGATIONS <br />for <br />THE LOWER GUNNISON BASiN UNiT <br /> <br />?LAN or WORK <br />March 1976 <br /> <br />I, ! fJlRODUCT IO'J <br /> <br />Ultimately, sal inity become:::, <3 major r'foblem in any 1arge i rrigar >~rJ <br />system. In areas with highlv sal ine sai Is, such as the IGwer partin, <br />of the Uncompahgre Project in \'est.~e;'r,I',ll C;)loradn, "AI ;"Ii! ha's <br />been a problem since project water ~~s first de! ivc'ed (bu the US, <br />Bureau of Reclamation) in 1908, The irrigated land in ""," 'Ji,compa"qno <br />Project is within the L.ower Gunnison Basin Unit, and ',tihen irrigated, tr._.' <br />areas with highly sa! ine soils and subsoils are the large cuntributors <br />of sa! ine return flows. The lower Gunnison has been designated as c';, <br />Irrigation source control unit under Title II - Measures Upstrea~ from <br />Imperial Dam of Publ ic law 93-320 (88 Stat. 266) Colorado River' Sa: inlty <br />Control ACt. In recent years the lower Colorado River has developed <br />salt loadings that adversely affect irrigated crop production and other <br />downstream uses. This problem is especially severe for waLer del ivered <br />to Mexico where salt concentrations average 1,160 parts per million <br />(ppm) , <br /> <br />Recognition of the water qual ity problem in the region has caused a <br />number of studies to be made since about 1960. The Colorado River Basin <br />Water Qual ity Control Project was establ ished in 1960 by the Division of <br />Water Supply and Pollution Control, U,S. Publ ic Health Service (prede- <br />cessor to the Federal Water Quality Administration.) This study resulted <br />in a series of reports on "The Mineral Qual ity Problem in the Colorado <br />River Basin" by the Environmental Protection Agency (1971), The occur- <br />rence of sal inity in the Colorado River is also documented by the U.S. <br />Bureau of Reclamation (1972 and 1974) Status Reports - Colorado River <br />Water Qual ity Improvement Program, and U.S. Geological Survey Profes- <br />s lanaI Paper 441, "Water Resources of the Upper Colorado River Bas in _ <br />Technical Report," by lorns and others (1965). <br /> <br />This Plan of Work outlines the plan for Soil Conservation Service inves- <br />tigations of the potential for USDA programs to reduce salt loadings to <br />the Colorado River Basin. The specific investigations wi] 1 be conducted <br />under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of the <br />Interior and the Department of Agriculture, effective November 27, 1974, <br />which was entered into under the authority of the Interdepartmental Work <br />Service Act of March 4, 1915 (38 Stat. 1084), as amended; the Economy <br />Act of June 30, 1932 (31 U,S,C, Sec. 686); and the Colorado River Basin <br />Sal inity Control Act of June 24, 1974 (88 Stat. 266). In addition, a <br />specific Memorandum of Agreement betlveen the Bureau of Reclamation, USDI <br />and the Soil Conservation Service, USDA, dated March 27, 1975, provides <br />for accomp 1 ish i ng the work under Tit I e II of the Co 1 orado @03';)t8in i ty <br />Control Act. <br /> <br />. <br />