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<br />I' <br />.~ <br /> <br />o <br />o <br />-.oJ <br />CJ~ <br /> <br />, <br />. i.,. <br /> <br />To comply with a July 1995 amendment to the Salinity Control Act (Public Law 104-20), <br />Reclamation will annually request proposals to reduce salinity throughout the Colorado River <br />Basin. Proposals then compete for funds, based on approval by a Salinity Control Forum <br />consisting of representatives from 7 states in the basin. Selection criteria include cost <br />effectiveness and degree of risk in tenns of the cost and amount of salinity control. Cost <br />effectiveness is the annual cost to remove one ton of salt from the river system ($/ton/year). <br />The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (UVWUA) operates and maintains the <br />distribution system. They could submit proposals to pipe any portion of the system. <br />Reclamation has planned the East Side Laterals Project to meet selection criteria better than <br />the 1984 Plan. Placing the systems in pipe would cost less than lining them with concrete. <br />System operation and maintenance and rights-of-way protection requirements would also be <br />less for pipelines than open ditches. Revisions to the habitat replacement program are <br />consistent with policies for mitigating impacts to wetland habitat. Proposals for piping <br />laterals need to include measures to replace lost habitat. <br /> <br />Need for and Puq>ose of Action <br /> <br />A basin-wide salinity control program is needed to improve, enhance, and protect the quality <br />of water in the Colorado River. Projects are authorized to meet salinity concentration <br />standards set by the Salinity Control Act. Improvements benefit use of water for <br />agricultural, domestic and environmental purposes, especially for water users in the lower <br />basin. Purposes of the East Side Laterals Project are to improve the cost effectiveness of <br />planned improvements and protect use of resources by local residents, downstream water <br />users and wildlife. <br /> <br />The Unit area contributes about 360,000 tons of dissolved salts to the river system. Much of <br />this is due to operation of the Uncompahgre Project. Salt loading results from irrigation <br />water seeping through earthen ditches and deep percolation from irrigated fields. Water <br />passing through underlying soils and shales dissolves salts; groundwater then carries salts to <br />the Uncompahgre or Gunnison Rivers and, eventually, the Colorado River. Reclamation <br />estimates each acre-foot of seepage prevented in the Unit area will reduce salt loads by 5.69 <br />tons. Elimination of winter water flows has reduced salt loading by about 41,350 tons per <br />year. Lining or piping laterals would prevent about 63,880 additional tons from entering the <br />river system, and includes measures to replace wildlife habitat losses. Lining the rest of the <br />canals would eliminate about 31,000 more tons, but action is still deferred due to high costs, <br /> <br />Relationship with Other Proiects <br /> <br />To control salinity from irrigation sources, Reclamation and the U.S. Department of <br />Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS; fonnerly the Soil Conservation <br />Service, or SCS) cooperate in separate programs for "off-farm" vs. "on-farm" projects. <br />Reclamation's projects in the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit are to reduce seepage from the <br />Uncompahgre Project water delivery systems. The NRCS works with farmers, on a cost- <br />sharing basis, to improve their management of irrigation. Other salinity control projects may <br /> <br />3 <br />