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<br /> <br />. <br /> <br />o <br />o <br />~ and Colorado Rivers in east central Utah. The estimated total dis- <br />to solved solids contributed by the Price, San Rafael, and Dirty Devil <br />0'). Rivers are 240,000, 190,000, and 200,000 tons, respectively. <br />W <br /> <br />The estimated annual removal of salt by proposed control programs is <br />100,000 tons on the Price River and 80,000 tons each for the San <br />Rafael and Dirty Devil Rivers. <br /> <br />The tentative plan for control of these sources is to selectively <br />remove the higher concentrated flows and evaporate or desalt them. <br /> <br />Another area provided for by the Salinity Control Act is that deal- <br />ing with research and support projects. In control of salinity from <br />irrigation sources, the Act directs the Secretary of the Interior, <br />and thus the Bureau of Reclamation, to work with the Department of <br />Agriculture in carrying out research and demonstration projects and <br />in implementing on-the-farm improvements and farm mamangement practices. <br /> <br />It also directs the Secretary to undertake research to find additional <br />methods of controlling salinity and, in that effort, to utilize the <br />capabilities and resources of other Government agencies and private <br />organization. <br /> <br />Several research and support projects were begun before the enactment <br />of P.L. 93-320 and are being continued under it. <br /> <br />One of these projects is the study of irrigation efficiency being <br />conducted jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Agricultural <br />Research Service of the Department of Agriculture. This research is <br />aimed at evaluating the potential of increasing irrigation efficiency <br />through use of high-frequency, low-volume irrigation sprinkler applica- <br />tions and advance gravity application methods and relating the <br />results to the salinity output from the irrigated areas. This will <br />involve quantitative studies of the mineral weathering and salt <br />precipitation as a function of irrigation management on the soils <br />of the Grand Valley area with waters of the Colorado River. The <br />research will also attempt to determine procedures needed for pre- <br />dicting mineral weathering and salt precipitation for representative <br />soils and waters in other locations of the Colorado River Basin. <br /> <br />One alternative to controlling the salinity in the Colorado River <br />would be desalting to the water users specifications at the points <br />of diversion. For irrigation purposes, this would involve large <br />desalting plants. For other purposes, however, smaller capacity <br />plants might be required to reduce the salinity concentrations by <br />only a few hundred mg/l. Ion exchange would be well suited for <br />such applications. <br /> <br />7 <br /> <br />