Laserfiche WebLink
<br />w <br />....... <br />~..... <br />w <br /> <br />1) <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br /> <br />More than l4.5 million people and 2.5 million acres of agricultural <br />land require water from the Colorado River (Kircher, 1984). The variety <br />of demands on this water places great emphasis not only on the quantity <br />of water, but also on its quality. The situation is complicated <br />nationallY because seven states are involved. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, <br />New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California (Mann et al, 1974), and it <br />is further complicated internationally by Mexico's use of this water and <br />the international agreement concerning Colorado River water (Holburt, <br />1977) . <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />o <br />;" <br />-'. ", <br />;1 <br />;J <br /> <br />.. <br />, <br />j <br />::1 <br /> <br />,~ <br /> <br />Salinity of the Colorado River <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />As the river flows from its source in the Rocky Mountains the <br />dissolved solid concentration increases from about 50 mg/l to about 850 <br />mg/l at Imperial Dam. In 1983 the cost of this increase of salinity was <br />about 9l million dollars. Jonez (1984) indicates that the source of the <br />dissolved solids is as follows. <br />. natur$l sources, 47% <br />. irrigation, 37% <br />. reservoir evaporation, 12% <br />. water exports, 3% <br />. municipal and industrial use, 1% <br />8lackman et al (1973) estimate that 84% of the natural sources of <br />salinity ,within the Upper Colorado River 8asin are due to diffuse <br />sources. <br />The purpose of this report is to consider one aspect of the natural <br />sources, the diffuse-source salinity in the Upper Colorado River Basin, <br />particularly the Mancos-Shale terrain that comprises large parts of the <br />Colorado, Gunnison, Green and Price River basins. Extensive outcrops of <br />Mancos Sh$le and similar rocks occur elsewhere in the Upper Colorado <br />River, for example, in the San Juan River basin and in many smaller <br />tributaries to the Colorado River. In addition, based upon a review of <br />previous research, diffuse-source salinity control measures will be <br />evaluated and recommendations will be made for future studies. <br /> <br />'f <br /> <br />. - i <br />" ;1 <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />