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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I. <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />II. <br />I. <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />37r~ <br /> <br />USGS-Professional Paper 441 <br /> <br />The USGS presents an average annual salt yield for the <br />Gunnison River Basin. Measurements taken at gaging station No. <br />09152500 (Gunnison near Grand Junction) for water years 1914 <br />through 1957 were used to determine.an average annual salt yield <br />of 1,519,000 tons. <br /> <br />The report attributed 977,000 tons of salt per year to the <br />activities of man. Irrigated agriculture made up 973,200 tons of <br />this total. The basinwide average salt yield was determined to <br />be 3.6 tons per acre irrigated. It is estimated that a salt <br />discharge of 3,800 tons per year was due to municipal and <br />industrial use of water. <br /> <br />Natural sources contributed 542,000 tons of salt annually to <br />the Gunnison River Basin. Natural diffuse surface and <br />groundwater contributions accounted for all but 6,000 tons of <br />this total. The 6,000 tons came from many small thermal springs <br />throughout the subbasin. The combined discharge of all reported <br />springs is slightly more than 7 cfs with TDS concentrations <br />averaging 7,800 mg/1. <br /> <br />EPA-Minera1 Quality Problem <br /> <br />During their 1965-66 study, the EPA calculated the annual <br />salt yield for the Gunnison River Basin to be 1,705,000 tons with <br />irrigated agriculture accounting for the largest portion of this <br />amount. The salt budget for the Gunnison Basin is shown below. <br /> <br />-25- <br />