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<br />, <br /> <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program <br /> <br />I' ~ <br />(~~ <br />(." <br /> <br />c..) <br /> <br />The: purpose of the Colorado River Indian Reservation Unit im'esligation was to formulate a plan to <br />reduce the sal{ loadmg to the Colorado River from Irrigation on the reservation. An analysis of the <br />diversions 10 and {he dramage from the reservation indicated that the reservation did nOI make a net <br />salt contribution to the river. Consequently. the invemgallon was lerminaled and a concluding <br />report released In October 1979, <br /> <br />USDA-A cooperative river basin srudy was published by USDA for the Colorado River Indian <br />Reservation Data available from {his slUdy support the hypothesis that a minimal amount of sail is <br />picked up on the reservation and that long-term benefits of belIef irrigation systems and practices <br />appear to have a relatively small effect on downstream salinity. The final USDA repon. Waler <br />COr/un-alion alld Resource De\'elopmeru. Colorado Ri\'er Indian Resen'OfiOr/. which did not <br />identify a recommended plan. was published and distributed under authority of Section 6 of the <br />Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (Public Law 83-5661. <br /> <br />Dirty Devil River Unit <br /> <br />The Diny DeVIl River Unit IS located in Emery and Wayne Counties in southern Utah. The study <br />area included the ~1uJdy Creek. the Fremont and Diny Devil Rivers. and the tributaries of Muddy <br />Creek. Hanksville Sail Wash. and Emery South Salt Wash. The Din)" Devil River drainage <br />contributes appro:umately 150.000 tons of salt each year to the Colorado River, The Muddy Creek <br />tributary contributes an average of 86.000 tons of salt annually. No significam sources of salt or <br />potential alternatives were identified on the Fremont River or its tributaries. Approx.imately. <br />~8 percent of the ~1udd)" Creek salt load (2.L~OO tons per year) comes from springs in Hanks....ille <br />Sail Wash and Ernef')' South Salt Wash. <br /> <br />The geok'gic formations in the area consist primarily of !>edimentary deposits. about 60 percem of <br />which are nludslOnes. clay!>tones. and shales The Carmel Formation of Jurassic age and the <br />~1ancos Shale Fomlations of Cretaceous age are major comributors of dissolved solids. Irrigalion <br />of alluvial soih. derived from shales increases the contribution of dissolved solids 10 the streams. <br /> <br />Reclamation's plan was designed to reduce Ihe salmilY of the Dmy Devil and Colorado Rivers by <br />collecting saline spring water in Hanhville Salt Wash and Emery South SaIl Wash and disposing of <br />H t'iy deep well injection. Collection would be accomplished by pumping surface and alluvial water <br />from shallow wells. This water would be filtered and chemically stabilized after .....hich II would be <br />injected imo a deeply buried geologic fornmion. the Coconino Sandstone. where it would be stored <br />indefinilely and isolated from any freshwater aquifer now in use. This means of disposal would <br />reduce the salt contribution to the Colorado Ri\'er by ~O.900 tons annually. Reclamation completed <br />a planning repon in ~1ay 1987. The unil has not been implemented due to its marginal cost <br />effectivenes!>. <br /> <br />43 <br /> <br />