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<br />002226 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />of the test. <br /> <br />WATER QUALITY <br /> <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control <br /> <br />Last month I reported to you that on July 28, 1997, I wrote a letter to Reclamation <br />expressing my concern with the USGS's intention to reduce its role, due to budget reductions, in <br />gathering data from various gaging stations within the Colorado River Basin. At the Forum's <br />meeting in Tucson, Arizona, I was pleased to learn that nearly 70 percent of the funds required for <br />stream gaging have been restored, and with matching funds available from other federal agencies, <br />the program appears to be intact again. <br /> <br />During the meeting, the Forum recommended the following funding levels for the federal <br />agencies for FY 1999 and FY 2000. These figures represent the minimum funding required to <br />maintain the state-adopted numeric criteria. <br /> <br />[ I I Fiscal Years <br />I I I 1999 2000 <br />DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <br />Bureau of Reclamation $ 17 ,500 ,000 $ 17.500.000 <br />Bureau of land Management $ 5,200,000 $ 5,200,000 <br />1 [ <br />DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE $ 12,000,000 $ 12,000,000 <br />[ [ [ <br />[TOTAL FUNDS NEEDED $ 34,700,000 $ 34,700,000 <br /> <br />Concerning efforts by Reclamation, I can report that: <br /> <br />. For FY 1998, Reclamation has been budgeted $20 million for its salinity control activities, <br /> <br />. Preliminary results from Reclamation's revised economic model shows that the economic <br />impacts from salinity appears to be nearing $ I billion per year, This is up from prior <br />estimates of $750 million per year, <br /> <br />. The third Basin Wide Salinity Control Request for Proposal will be issued prior to the end <br />of the year. It is hoped that from this RFP, projects can be found that with the addition of <br />Basin funds, programs can be implemented to help reduce the salt loading to the River, <br /> <br />.- <br /> <br />d A/...?~ r _ -rt-' <br />~tK~ r~~__A <br />Gerald R, Zimmerman <br />Executive Director <br /> <br />5 <br />