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<br /> <br />SUMMARY <br /> <br />/') <br />00 <br />c:"" The Colorado River and its mbutaries provide municipal and industrial water for more than <br />C. } ::0 million people in the seven Basin Stales and irrigatlon Waler 10 nearly 3 million acres of land. <br />The threat of salinity is a major concern in both the United Stales and the Republic of ~1e)(ico. <br />Salmil)' affects agricultural. municipal. and industrial users. Damages in ~le)(ico are unquamified. <br />but damages in the United Slates typically range between 5500 million and 5750 million per year. <br />This bIennial report on the quality of water in the Colorado River Basin is required by Public <br />Laws 84-485. 87-483. and the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act ($alinil)' Control Act). <br /> <br />The Salinity Control Act (Public Law 93-320, as amended by Public Laws 98.569. 104-20, and <br />1()..!-1~7) authorizes the Secretaries of Ihe U.S. Department of the Interior (InteriOr) and <br />U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enhance and protect the quality of water available in <br />the Colorado River for use in the United States and the Republic of '-lexica. The Salinity Control <br />Act also requires the Secretary of the:- Interior (0 report bie:-nnially on the progre:-ss of the program. <br /> <br />Title I of the Salinity Control Act authorize:-s the construction and operation of a desalting plant. <br />tmne:- discharge canal. and other features to enabk the United States (0 deliver water to ~texico <br />haying an a...erage salinity no greater than 115 partS per million (ppml +1.30 ppm over the annual <br />3ve:-rage salinity of the Colorado Ri....er al Imperial Dam. The Title I program {administered by the <br />Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation}) continues (0 meet the requirements of ~1inU!e No. Z~Z of the <br />International Boundary and Waler Commission. Unned States and '-lexica of the '-lexican Treaty <br />of 19~-1. <br /> <br />Title II of the Salinity Control Act aUlhorlzed several speCific salinity control units in 197-l and <br />198-1 to meet the objectl""es and standards set by the Clean Water Act. The co~t effective portions <br />of these umts have all been completed. In 1995, Public Law 104-:0 authorized an enlirely new <br />way of Implementing salimty control. Reclamation's BaSinwide Salinity Control Program opens the <br />prllgram to competilion through a "Request for ProposalM process which has greatly reduced the <br />co~t of saltnilY control. The average cost of salinity control measures has dropped from about <br />570 per ton (0 530 per ton. <br /> <br />Prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Clean \,'ater Act. the /996 Rn'iew, \\-'arer <br />QualifY' Standards/or Salmity. Colorado Ri\'er System, dated June 1996 (1996 Triennial Review) <br />found that the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program has fallen somewhat behind and that <br />the program needs to be accelerated. The 1996 Triennial Review found that nearly -15.000 cons of <br />new controls v. ill need to be implemented each year to maintain the standards. This program goal <br />is the combineJ target for the participating agencies within (merior and USDA. In Reclamation's <br />annual presem:uion to the Colorado Ri\'er Basin Salimt)' Control Advisory Council (October 1998), <br />Reclamation presented an analysis of the program's overall progress. The analysis showed that the <br />pwgram has been able to meet its larget over the last 3 years mainly because of the two-fold <br />increase In efficiency achieved by Reclamation's new Basinwide Salinity Comrol Program. <br />