WSP10301

• File Number: 8273.100.50
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control - Federal Agencies - Bureau of Reclamation
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 2/1/1988
• Author: BOR
• Title: Estimating Economic Impacts of Salinity of the Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

Research Objectives

This research study was intended to update
earlier research conducted for the Bureau of
Reclamation beginning in 1974 and subsequently
published in a 1980 report by Alan p, Kleinman
and F, Bruce Brown! (see "Background of the
Study," page 10), The present study had the
objectives of:

. providing a better means of estimating
present and future salinity damages under
current water use scenarios and economic
conditions;

Cl revising and clarifying earlier
investigations;

. addressing unresolved questions and issues
dealing with Colorado River salinity.

More specifically, this research effort con-
sists of four interrelated studies, three that up-
date or supplemeot the salinity damages data
base reported by Kleinman and Brown and one
to develop a computer program to estimate
damages.

L The first study updates the agricultural
and municipal damages data base established by
Kleinman and Brown by (a) considering current
forecasts of the salinity concentration of
Colorado River water available for use in the
Lower Basin, including the impacts of the
Central Arizona Project; (b) considering blend-
ing, water salvage and conservation scenarios
that may affect future water use; (c) considering
current economic conditions in terms of equip-
ment and appliance lifetimes, costs and prices,
interest rates, etc,; and (d) reexamining the

threshold values previously established for
municipal, industrial, and agricultural damages.

2. The second study examines and evaluates
the benefits of reduced salinity of the Colorado
River on reclaimed wastewater for direct and
planned reuse in the Southern California water
service area, as well as indirect or pOlential uses
of such wastewater.

3. The third study investigates industrial
damages due to salinity, which were not
addressed in earlier investigations, and estab-
lishes representative damage estimates for
various industrial water uses.

4. The fourth study involves development of
a computer program that wiU permit easy calcu-
lation of salinity damages, by water use sector
over various time periods, with varying assump-
tions of water use, population growth, and
economic development and with the flexibility to
make changes in such economic factors as costs,
crop prices, and interest/discount rates.

limitations to the Study

The Bureau of Reclamation specified several
limitations to the study:

. Only direct salinity damages to the various
water user sectors are to be considered.
Indirect or secondary salinity damages arc
outside the scope of the study;

. Salinity impacts beyond the U .S, border
are outside the scope of the study;

. No attempt will be made to separate water
use damages according to specific ion

l~an P. Kleinman and F. Bruce Brown, Col,ol"3do Riv~r S:l1~nity: Fronomir Imparts on A(?irullural Municinal and
Im;lustnallJse"" Denver, Colorado: Colorado Ri....er Water Quality Orfice, Bureau or Reclamation, December 1980.