WSP11020

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 9/18/1974
• Author: John Maletic
• Title: The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Projects
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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For Presentation at Meeting of
Colorado Water Conservation Board
Denver, Colorado
September 18, 1974

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THE COLORADO RIVER BASIN SALINITY CONTROL PROJECTS

(John T. Maletic*)

Scope of the Problem

In its journey to the Gulf of California, the Colorado River carries
a salinity burden of about 10 million tons annually. If the salinity
is to be kept below 1972 levels in the lower main stem, about 2.5
million tons per year will have to be removed from the system. Keep-
ing the salinity at or below 1972 levels is of vital importance to
users of the Colorado River waters . . . a condition which is now
embodied into the "law of the river."

Efforts to control the salinity of the Colorado have been given sub-
stantial support through enactment of Public Law 93-320, the "Colorado
River Basin Salinity Control Act" of 1974. This Act,s~gi1.ed into
law by former President Nixon on June. 24, 1974, .authorizes the con-
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struction, operation, and maintenance of certain works in the Colorado
River Basin to control the salinity of water delivered to users in the
United States and Mexico.

The Act is the first step in carrying out the recommendations of
various studies conducted over the last two decades. It is also the
legislative instrument drawn to carry out commitments made by the
United States to provide a permanent, definitive and just solution
to the international salinity problem with Mexico.

The Salinity Control Act has two principal divisions, Titles I and II.
Very briefly, Title I provides for the construction, operation and
maintenance of a desalting complex whose purpose is to reduce the
salinity of return flows of the Well ton-Mohawk Division of the Gila
irrigation project near Yuma, Arizona, and thereby improve the salinity
of water delivered to Mexico. Title II provides for the construction,
operation and maintenance of systems to control the salinity contribu-
tions from four particular sources of salinity in the Colorado River
Basin. It also provides for the development of salinity control plans
for 12 other sources. Provisions for repaying the construction costs
are made through application of Upper and Lower Basin funds. Title II
further provides for the naming of a Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Advisory Council.

*Chief, Water Quality Office, Engineering and Research Center, Bureau
of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado.

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