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f. 1,500 tons of salinity enter the Colorado River from hot springs in the Glenwood Springs area each day. Salinity contributed by the hot springs into the river stays constant, which means that as more water is removed from the Colorado River, salinity levels increase. Salinity levels increase the farther downstream measurements are taken, and by the time water reaches the Gulf of California, it may be as high as 10% the concentration of seawater. The salt load at Lee's Ferry below Lake Powell is 10 million tons per year; Glenwood's annual salt load is 500,000 tons per year, which means that Glenwood contributes 5% of the salt that enters the Colorado River annually. g. Art Bowles asked about whether the water can be desalted. A $300 million desalination plant was constructed in Yuma Arizona to desalinate 76 million gallons per day of water that had 3,000 milligrams of salt per liter of water; by contrast, Colorado River water in Glenwood Springs has salt content of 10-20,000 milligrams of salt per liter of water. The Yuma desalination plant has not operated consistently since 1995 since it is so expensive to operate. h. Dale Tooker operates a reverse osmosis desalination plant for the Clifton Water District. The plant desalinates 3 million gallons per day, which is equivalent to 15 acre feet per day, or about 8 cfs on an annual basis. The plant cost $3.5 million, and annual operating costs are $140,000. Once the salt is removed, it creates a disposal problem. Desalinating water is very energy dependent and expensive. Dale can be reached at 970-434-7328, dtooker@cliftonwaterdistrict.com. 1. If oil shale is commercially developed, it estimated that salinity levels will increase, and that 41,000 tons of salt per year, or about 112 tons per day, will be added to the Colorado River. J. Front Range diversions are having an impact on salinity levels, and this is causing increased costs to municipal water providers downstream. The impact varies with water levels, so that diversions during spring runoff do not have as big an impact. Similarly, if high quality water is stored and then released in the fall, water quality increases. Dave Mernrt noted that there is a disconnect between water resource allocation and water quality, since there is no requirement in water resource petmitting to consider the impact on water quality downstream. Dave noted that water quality is one of the major issues being addressed in the current negotiations with Denver. 12. Update on previous Water for the 21st Century Grant awards. a. Grand County NCNA: Phase 1 has been completed, and a scope of work request for Phase 2 has been sent out; a draft report is expected by October 2007. b. 10825 Study: Phase 1 is being wrapped up; in Phase 2, they will look at alternatives in more detail. The next meeting is May 29. c. Energy use subcommittee: John Sikora reported that the committee will be using HB 1400 funds to gather data. The subcommittee's current focus is on oil and natural gas. An EIS was just released detailing the water needs posed by energy development. Peter Barkman reported that it is very lengthy; Chapter 4 alone is 385 pages. 1. There are only 5 paragraphs devoted to estimating the water requirements of oil shale. Greg Trainor of Mesa County reported that it is very difficult to estimate L\CWCB Imaging\Caleb\Minutes\Colorado\2007\Minutes May 2007 CBRTdoc 5 7/l<