7431

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7431
• Author: Colorado River Salinity Program Coordinator.
• Title: Salinity Update.
• USFW Year: 1989.
• USFW - Doc Type: Denver, Colorado.
• Copyright Material: NO

THE PROBLEM
The Colorado River Basin (Basin)
encompasses portions of seven
states. The river flows over
1,400 miles from its headwaters in
Colorado to its terminus in the Gulf
of California in the Republic of
Mexico. On its journey, it joins with
tributaries from Wyoming, Utah,
and New Mexico; flows through the
Grand Canyon; and provides state
boundaries for Nevada, Arizona,
and California.
The river's water, now and in
future years, has been fully
allocated through a long history of
appropriations and negotiations
that include acts, compacts, decrees,
and an international treaty, known
collectively as The Law of the River.
About half of the present salinity
concentration in the Colorado River
at Hoover Dam near Las Vegas,
Nevada, is attributed to natural
sources. The remaining half is
man-induced as indicated in
figure 1.
Natural Sources 47%
Reservoir
Irrigation 37% Evaporation 12%
Figure 1. - Salt loading sources.