7905 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council, a report on the Colorado River Salinity Control Program covering the progress of investigation, planning, and construction of salinity control units for the 2 previous fiscal years. The report is to include the effectiveness of the units, anticipated work to be accomplished to meet the objectives of Title II with emphasis on the needs during the 5 years immediately following the date of each report, and any special problems that may be impeding an effective salinity control program. Title II also provides that this report may be included in the biennial Quality of Water, Colorado River Basin, Progress Report. TITLE I PROGRAM Title I of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-320) provided the means to comply with the obligations made by the United States to Mexico, including a desalting plant and a bypass channel. These facilities will enable the United States to deliver water to Mexico with an average salinity no greater than 115 parts per million (ppm) +/- 30 ppm (United States count) over the annual average salinity of the Colorado River water at Imperial Dam. Coachella Canal Lining To assist in meeting the salinity control objectives of Title I, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to construct a concrete-lined canal or to line the unlined initial 49 miles of the Coachella Canal. The act required that a repayment contract be executed with the Coachella Valley Water District for partial repayment of the cost of the work over a 40-year period. An estimated 141,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water were lost each year through seepage from this reach of the canal. It is estimated that the lined canal will reduce seepage losses to 9,000 acre-feet per year, resulting in an annual savings of 132,000 acre-feet. The seepage losses saved are to be used for an interim period to substitute for the bypassed Wellton-Mohawk irrigation drainage waters and for the reject stream from the Yuma Desalting Plant. The interim period began when construction was completed in 1982 and ends the first year that the Secretary of the Interior delivers to California less mainstream Colorado River water than requested by California agencies and Federal establishments with water rights in California. Protective and Regulatory Pumping Section 103(a) of Public Law 93-320 authorized the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Protective and Regulatory Pumping Unit (PRPU) by the Bureau of Reclamation to manage and conserve United States ground water for the benefit of the United States and for delivery to Mexico. The Protective and Regulatory Pumping Unit is located in a zone 5 miles wide along the Southerly International Boundary between Arizona and Sonora. 44