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<br />C Consenation Service (SCS) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USSR) ha...e <br />C' <br />~ cooperated in formulating on-farm salinity control programs. (See U.S. 8ureau <br />-..t <br /> <br />of Reclamation, 1987, for a description.) <br /> <br />A number of choices are subsurr.eC under the term "salinity control polIcy." <br /> <br />These include: al the le...el of sa11nfty permitted, b) the technologies for <br /> <br />controlling salinity, and, c) the fncentive/penalty inst1tutions 1nfluencfng <br /> <br />salt discharge. Taken together, these elements of sa11nity pol fcy determine <br /> <br />ho~ t~e Joint damage and abatement costs burdens are shared. Economic analysis <br /> <br />includfng cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit and distributional stud1es, can <br /> <br />contrfbute to these choices. <br /> <br />Solutions to externality problems such as irrfgation-induced salinfty w1ll <br /> <br />require efther reaffirmation or redefin1tion of entitlements. haluation of <br /> <br />these problems must go beyond conventional economic effic1ency analys1s <br /> <br />(Bromley). <br /> <br />Seen in thfs l1ght, the Colorado R1\/er sa11nity problem is a <br /> <br />conflict bet~een an emerg1ng perception of the Lo~er Bas1n's entftlement to <br /> <br />und99raded water versus the lons-estab11shed ent1tlement of the Upper Basfn to <br /> <br /> <br />use water 1n traditional - even 1f polluting - ways.1 <br /> <br />Objective and Approach <br /> <br />Before po11cy recommendat10ns can be formulated, a backsround of emp1rical <br /> <br />relationsh1ps must be establ ished. Our Objective 1s to contribute to such a <br /> <br />backgroundw <br /> <br />The analysis does not claim to be value-free - policy analysis <br /> <br />cannot be so; rather, it presents relevant empirical relationships for <br /> <br />resolving the entitlement conf11cts identified above. <br /> <br />Cur earlier study (Gardner anC: Young) reassesseC: n,e est1mated economic <br /> <br />benefits of the federal salinity control program to lower Colcrac:o Rher Basfn <br /> <br />agricultural water users. <br /> <br />We concluded that, because the indirect econcmic <br /> <br />3 <br />