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<br />W <br />-.J <br />l\;. <br />I'\) <br /> <br />This special study addresses the institutional, environmental, technical, <br />and economic aspects of collecting saline water from identified sources and <br />transporting, using, and disposing of the collected brine at appropriate <br />sites. High priority has been given to those plans that involve potential <br />use of saline water near the identified sources. <br /> <br />B. Authority for Investigation <br /> <br />In 1972, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public <br />Law 92-500, set forth a public policy embracing nondegradation of water <br />quality, pollution effluent discharge limitation, and eventual zero pollu- <br />tion discharge by 1985. The Act was interpreted by the EPA (Environmental <br />Protection Agency) to require numerical salinity standards on the Colorado <br />River. Standards were subsequently established at three stations by the <br />Forum (Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum), adopted by each of <br />the Basin States, and approved by EPA. The standards, set in terms of <br />milligrams per liter (mg/L) of total dissolved solids (TDS), are: <br /> <br />Stat i on <br /> <br />Annual <br />flow weighted <br />average TDS <br /> <br />Below Hoover Dam <br />Below Parker Dam <br />At Imperi a 1 Dam <br /> <br />723 mg/L <br />747 mg/L <br />879 mg/L <br /> <br />In response to this policy and related Federal and State program enforce- <br />ment guidelines, the CRWQIP was selected as part of the implementation plan <br />to prevent salinity concentrations in the Colorado River from exceeding the <br />standards. <br /> <br />The investigation of new control alternatives captures the spirit and <br />program direction found in the 1972 Conference Proceedings with the Basin <br />States, In the Matter of Pollution of the Interstate Water of the Colorado <br />River and Its Tributaries * * *. <br /> <br />"We (the states) want to emphasize that the Bureau of Reclama- <br />tion's program as submitted in its report 'Colorado River Water <br />Quality Improvement Program,' dated February 1972, and on <br />which the conference recommendation No. III is based, should be <br />considered as an open-ended and flexible program. If alterna- <br />tives not yet identified prove to be more feasible, they should <br />be included as part of the program, and if elements now included <br />prove to be infeasible, they should be dropped. In addition, <br />it should be recognized that there may be other programs which <br />reduce the river's salinity." <br /> <br />1-2 <br />