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1_.,.., ~..l.": These criteria should be adopted on or before January 1, 1973, by the appropriate Colorado Riv- er Basin states in accordance with the Federal Wa- ter Pollution Control Act, as amended, 4. The possibility be explored of extending the au- thority of one or more existing agencies to assume the responsibility to plan, formulate policy, di- rect, and implement a comprehensive basin-wide salinity control program. In the event existing au- thority is lacking or inappropriate, legislation . should be sought to establish a permanent Fed- eral-State agency or river basin commission which could assume such responsibility. 5. Early measures be sought to authorize, fund, and implement a basinwide salt load reduction pro- gram that would lead to achieving Recommenda- tion No. I." In a joint effort by representatives of the State Water Resources Control Board, De- partment of Water Resources, and Colorado River Board, the State's official comments on the EP A report were prepared. The princi- pal comments in the State's June 4, 1971, let- ter to EPA, signed by the Executive Officer of the State Water Resources Control Board, were as follows: 1. That strong supporr be given to the reporr's recom- mendations that a policy objective be adopted that would result in salinity concentrations being main- tained at or below present levels in the lower Colo- rado River, and that early measures be sought to authorize, fund. and implement a basinwide salt load reduction program, 2. That specific numerical salinity criteria should not be developed at this time because the efforts neces- sary to develop and adopt such criteria would re- sult in delays in implementing salinity control measures. 3, That the Bureau of Rcclamation be the primary agency to conduct the salinity control program and that it be elevated to the status of a major program with a director who would report directly to Wash- ington. 4. That the EPA specify in the final report how it would assist in developing a salinity control pro- gram. 5. That a discussion of the significance of a Colorado River salinity control program on the United States' relations with Mexico be included in the final report. 6, That the report acknowledge that differing as- sumptions on water supplies and future water use would increase the projected salinities, and that the dollar value of detriments covered in the report were minimum values. The final report was received on Decem- ber 10, 1971. The three recommendations in the final report are similar to recommenda- tions numbered !, 2, and 5 in the draft report with the reference to the 800 mg/ I average monthly total dissolved solids level at Hoo- ver Dam removed from recommendation number 2, At the close of 1971, the Board was work- ing with other states and agencies to acceler- ate the Bureau of Reclamation's basinwide salinity control program as the key to realiza- tion of the objective of keeping salinity con- centrations at or below present levels. Colorado River Salinity Control Program The basic approach of the Board concern- ing the River's water quality problems has been to seek recognition that increasing sa- linity is a basinwide problem needing a physical solution which will allow the Upper Basin to develop at its own pace and within its water rights, while maintaining salinity in the Lower Basin near present levels. In a March 31, 1971, letter to New Mex- ico's State Engineer, the Board's Chief Engi- neer stated, "the most promising way to meet this goal that we are aware of is to construct salinity control projects that would prevent major quantities of salt from entering the riv- er system," This statement is an outgrowth of past studies of the River's salinity prob- lems. The Colorado River Storage Project Act and subsequent legislation for the Navajo In- dian Irrigation Project, the San Juan-Chama Project, and the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project authorizes the Bureau of Reclamation to in- vestigate and report to Congress on Colorado River water quality conditions. During the past decade, the Environmental Protection Agency's predecessor agencies conducted studies that were presented in the report "The Minerlll Q!!ality Problem in The Colo- rado River Basin." In these studies and in the Colorado River Board's 1970 report, "Need for Controlling the Salinity of the Colorado River" various potential salinity control 25