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<br />LEGISLATIVE HISTORY <br /> <br />In June 1974, Congress enacted the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control <br />Act (Act), Public Law (P,L,) 93-320, which directed the Secretary of the <br />Interior (Secretary) to proceed with a program to enhance and protect the <br />quality of water available in the Colorado River for use in the United States <br />and the Republic of Mexico, <br /> <br />f\.) <br />.;&:.. <br />l!If], <br />Il-'" <br /> <br />Title I of the Act addressed the United States' commitment to Mexico, It <br />authorized the construction of the Yuma Desalting Plant to enable the <br />United States to comply with its obligations under the agreement with <br />Mexico dated August 30, 1973 (Minute No, 242 of the International <br />Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico) and the <br />Mexican Water Treaty of February 3,1944, The Yuma Desalting Plant is <br />designed to control the quality of irrigation drainage which flows into the <br />river between Imperial Darn (the last major diversion point in the United <br />States) and Morelos Darn (Mexico's diversion point), <br /> <br />Title II of the Act created a salinity control program for water quality <br />improvement in the United States, It directed the Secretary to expedite the <br />completion of planning reports of 12 salinity control units and to proceed <br />with construction of the Paradox Valley, Grand VaHey, Crystal Geyser, and <br />Las Vegas Wash Units, <br /> <br />In October 1984, the President signed Public Law 98-569, which amended <br />the Act of 1974, It directed the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a <br />voluntary onfarrn cooperative salinity control program within the <br />U,S, Department of Agriculture (USDA), The USDA program provided cost <br />sharing of onfarrn improvements consistent with the degree of onsite and <br />offsite downstream benefits determined for the project area, The Federal <br />cost shares are not to exceed 70 percent unless approved by the Secretary of <br />Agriculture, The new authority also requires that 30 percent of the Federal <br />cost be repaid from the Upper Colorado River Basin (Upper Basin) and <br />Lower Basin water development funds, derived from a surcharge on the sale <br />of hydropower generated at Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) darns, <br /> <br />For the Department of the Interior, the 1984 amendments (P,L, 98-569) <br />modified Interior's program for salinity control in several respects, <br />Principal among these were: <br /> <br />· Authorization to construct Stage I of the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit <br />and, as part of the Dolores Project, the McElmo Creek Unit <br /> <br />· Deauthorization of the Crystal Geyser Unit <br /> <br />2 <br />