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o ~~ CD (0 Statement of The Upper Colorado River Commission to The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum August 23, 1999 The Upper Colorado River Commission is an interstate compact administrative agency created by the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948. The member'States of the Upper Colorado River Commission are: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Since its inception, the Commission has actively participated in the development, utilization and conservation of the water resources of the Colorado River Basin. On behalf of the four Upper Division States, we appreciate the opportunity to provide comments to endorse past accomplishments and the proposed plan of implementation set forth by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum as outlined in the 1999 tri-annual review. Salinity has long been recognized as one of the major problems in the Colorado River. Salinity damages in the United States portion ofthe Colorado River Basin range between $500 million and $750 million per year and could exceed $1.5 billion per year iffuture increases in salinity are not controlled. Salinity control is both a western interstate water quality issue as well as an international water quality issue in meeting the requirements of Minute No. 242 pursuant to the Treaty with the United Mexican States. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program is designed to maintain salinity levels in the Colorado River system within established numeric criteria while the Upper Basin States continue to develop their Colorado River Compact- apportioned waters. Salinity of the river has fluctuated significantly over the period of record. Since the adoption of the numeric criteria by the Forum in 1975, and as a result of the implemented salinity control projects, the numeric criteria have not been exceeded. Most recently, in part because of favorable hydrologic conditions, salinity levels at the three stations on the Lower Colorado River were well below the numeric criteria. Salinity levels below Hoover Dam measured 588 mg/!, below Parker Darn measured 609 mg/! and below Imperial Dam measured 713 mg/!. The Commission supports the "1999 REVIEW, WATER QUALITY STANDARDS FOR SALINITY, COLORADO RIVER SYSTEM" and it's conclusion that there is no need to modifY the existing standards at this time. However, without additional salinity control measures, the salinity of the Colorado River is nrojected to increase above the water quality numeric criteria at the three downstream water qualIty stations below Hoover Dam, below Parker Dam and at Imperial Dam as a result of continued water development. For this tn-annual review, a plan of implementation has been recommended to maintain the salinities of the Colorado River at or below the numeric criteria below Hoover Dam through the year 2015. The Forum has determined that based on average hydrology, 1.477 million tons of salt must be removed or prevented from entering the system annually to maintain the numeric criteria through 2015. With normal hydrology, 1.105 million tons of salt load reduction would have been required by 1998 in order to not violate downstream standards. However, only 721,000 tons of salt load reduction has been achieved, a shortfall of384,000 tons. The Salinity Control Program is behind schedule; to make up this shortfall will require increased funding as outlined in the 1999 tri-annual review. Should the necessary funding levels not be provided for 35