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W t- o ~ Soil Conservation Service The Service expresses its concern over the lack of progress in implementing the salinity control program and the lack of coordination with water q~ality and conserva- tion efforts. The Service states that delays in the Bureau of Reclamation's Grand Valley Unit could hamper the success- ful completion of on-farm measures in the Valley, since these measures are dependent upon the location, design and construc- tion of the main canals and laterals. The Forum is pleased that the Soil Conservation Service is now taking a significant role in salinity control. The Forum is also concerned about the delays in the Bureau's program. A significant item is the Bureau of Reclamation's plan to have a year's delay in initiation of construction of Stage II of the Grand Valley Unit following the comple- tion of Stage I (letter of October Z, 1979, Commissioner Higginson to Dan Lawrence). The Forum urges the Soil Conser- vation Service to meet with the Bureau of Reclamation to see if the one-year delay planned by the Bureau can be eliminated so that the SCS on-farm program will not be delayed. The Forum's overall concern is evidenced by the discussion in the report, pages 50-54, and the material presented in AppendixC. The SCS urges that efforts be made to secure the best possible coordination between the local ZO$ agencies, the Forum and federal agencies. Coordination of effort between responsible agencies is a Forum objective. The Forum initiated a cooperative effort with the zog agencies in 1977, and, in a number of states, the agencies to which Forum members belong are active parti- cipants in the development of 20$ Areawide Waste Treatment Management Plans. The SCS believes that the immediate need is a salinity control plan that will address not only salinity but other water quality aspects, water conservation, water supply, fish and wildlife and instream flow, rather than a more accurate salt routing analysis. The Forum's Objective is a salinity control plan which will maintain the adopted numeric criteria while the basin states develop their compact-apportioned waters. The Forum's objective is limited to salinity. In order for the Forum to develop a timely and cost-effective salinity control plill1, accurate salinity projections are required. Therefore, the Forum believes that re-analysis of runoff-salt relationships and new salinity projections are of primary importance. Wyoming, Department of Environmental 9ualit~ 'l'he Department points out that the first sentence Oll page 67, under the heading Wyoming, is incorrect and should be deleted. 10