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<br />water quality standards, only relate to the combined concentration of all total dissolved solids and <br />not to any particular constituent. The Forum has decided, by the adoption of the 1999 Review <br />report, to reaffinn its commitments to the water quality standards that call for the control of total <br />dissolved solids at three downstream measuring points. However, the Forum, its members, and the <br />o referenced agencies are aware of impacts that can result when selenium reaches toxic levels. <br />~ <br />-.:l <br />~ There have been numerous discussions at the Forum meetings and at the Forum's Work <br />Group meetings about ways that the Salinity Control Program can be used in a symbiotic way with <br />other programs that are designed to control selenium. It is intuitive that in areas where selenium is <br />being leached from the soil that measures to control the leaching of other salts will also be effective <br />in reducing the leaching of selenium. However, quantitative studies are lacking in this regard and <br />within the last two years the Basin states have agreed on the implementation of a demonstration <br />selenium control project in the Montrose area of the Gunnison Basin in Colorado, where salinity <br />control funds and National Irrigation Water Quality Program funds available to the Department of <br />the Interior are being used to line a canal. This project includes a monitoring program so that the <br />potential relationships between salinity and selenium loading and control in this specific area can <br />be observed. The project is more than 50% complete and total expenditures are expected to reach <br />approximately $1 million. The seven Colorado River Basin states are cost-sharing in the salinity <br />control portion of this effort. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation's current Basinwide Salinity Control Program has also supported <br />the conversion of the sewage treatment facility operated by the Ashley Valley Sewer Management <br />Board for Vernal City and others from sewage lagoons to a mechanical system with a cement lined <br />oxidation ditch. The lagoons have been found to be responsible for the leaching of a significant <br />amount of salts, including selenium. The project is now under construction and is expected to be <br />in operation by December, 2000. This project will control both salinity and selenium in a cost- <br />effective way. <br /> <br />A most recent report, dated August 1999, in the Journal ofthe American Water Resources <br />Association, authored by Richard A. Engberg, was entitled "Selenium Budgets For Lake Powell and <br />the Upper Colorado River Basin System." Insight as to the selenium loading mechanism in the <br />Colorado River system can be gained by reading this report. The report finds that of the selenium <br />loading that occurs in the Colorado River llbove the ColoradolUtah state line, approximately 95% <br />of that selenium loading occurs in the Grand Valley of Colorado and from the Lower Gunnison and <br />Uncompahgre Valley area near Delta and Montrose. The Forum notes that the largest single salinity <br />control effort that has been undertaken by the Salinity Control Program is in the Grand Valley of <br />Colorado. Additionally, significant efforts have been undertaken in the area ofthe Gunnison River, <br />and it is in this area that the above referenced salinity/selenium control effort is being undertaken <br />and monitoring is occurring. The report further finds that about 51 % of the selenium loading that <br />is occurring in the Green River Basin is occurring along Ashley Creek near Jensen, Utah. This is <br />the precise area where the aforementioned Ashley Salinity Control Project has been undertaken. <br />Thus the salinity control program is already active in areas with known selenium loading and has <br />probably already had positive impacts on basinwide selenium levels. <br /> <br />10 <br />