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Last modified
7/14/2009 5:02:30 PM
Creation date
5/20/2009 10:40:47 AM
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Template:
UCREFRP
UCREFRP Catalog Number
7641
Author
U.S. Department of the Interior.
Title
Quality of Water, Colorado River Basin.
USFW Year
1987.
USFW - Doc Type
Progress Report No. 13,
Copyright Material
NO
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<br />The Upper Colorado River Basin Compact of 1948 further apportioned <br />Colorado River water, allocating to Arizona 50,000 acre-feet annually with the <br />remaining water allocated to Upper Basin states as follows: Colorado, 51.75 <br />percent; New Mexico, 11.25 percent; Utah, 23 percent; and wyoming, 14 percent. <br />The compact permitted the authorization of Federal projects above Lee Ferry. <br />States of the Lower Basin, however, did not agree to a compact for the <br />apportionment of waters in the Lower Colorado River Basin; accordingly, a <br />Supreme Court decree (Arizona vs. California et al.) in 1964 allocated use of <br />the mainstream of the river below Lee Ferry among California, Nevada, and <br />Arizona and of the Gila River between the States of Arizona and New Mexico. <br />The decree also permitted Federal water projects and the development of Indian <br />tribal lands to proceed. <br /> <br />2. Water Quality <br /> <br />Although a number of water quality related legislative actions have <br />been taken on the State and Federal levels, four Federal acts are of special <br />significance to the Colorado River Basin--the Water Quality Act of 1965 and <br />related amendments, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 <br />(Public Law 92-500), the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 as <br />ammended, and the Clean Water Act of 1977 as ammended. Also central to water <br />quality issues are agreements with Mexico on Colorado River system waters <br />entering that country. <br /> <br />The first of these, the Water Quality Act of 1965 (Public Law <br />89-234), amended the Federal Water pollution Control Act and established a <br />Federal Water Pollutiun Control Administration (now EPA). Among other <br />provisions, it required states to adopt water quality criteria for interstate <br />waters inside their boundaries. The seven Basin States initially developed <br />water quality standards which did not include numeric salinity criteria for <br />the Colorado River, primarily because of technical constraints. In 1972, the <br />States agreed to a policy which called for the maintenance of salinity <br />concentrations in the Lower Colorado River system at or below existing levels, <br />while the Upper Basin States continued to develop their compact-apportioned <br />waters. The States suggested that Reclamation should have primary <br />responsibility for investigating, planning, and implementing the proposed <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program. <br /> <br />The enactment of the Federal Water pollution Control Act Amendment <br />of 1972 affected salinity control in that the legislation was interpreted by <br />EPA to require numerical standards for salinity in the Colorado River. In <br />response, the Basin States founded the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control <br />Forum (Forum) to develop numeric salinity criteria and a basinwide plan of <br />implementation for salinity control. The Basin States held public meetings on <br />the proposed standards as required by the enacting legislation. The Forum <br />recommended that the individual Basin States adopt the report, Water Quality <br />Standards for Salinit Includin Numeric Criteria and Plan of 1m lementation <br />or Sa lnlt Contro, Colorado River S stem. The proposed water qua ity <br />stan ar ca e for malntenance of f ow-weighted average total dissolved <br />solids (TDS) concentrations of 723 milligrams per liter (mg/L) below Hoover <br />Dam, 747 mg/L below Parker Dam, and 879 mg/L below Imperial Dam. Included in <br />the plan of implementation were four salinity control units and possibly <br />additional units, the application of effluent limitations, the use of saline <br />water whenever practicable, and future studies. The standards are to be <br />reviewed at 3-year intervals. All of the Basin States adopted the 1975 Forum <br />recommended standards. <br /> <br />1-3 <br />
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