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I I Mr. Stapleton: Where do the Grand Junction area, . , the greatest problems occur? I gather in from reading some of the memorandums? Mr. Sparks: This bill that I refer to, 774, would authorize the immediate construction of three projects. The projects would be the LaVerkin Springs in Utah, a natural springs; Paradox Valley in Colo- rado, which also is a natural point discharge area; and the Grand Valley, which would be to control the salts originating from irriga- tion practices there. For LaVerkin Springs we have some misgivings, because this would require a desalination plant. In the Paradox Valley, the investigations there have shown a little different situation than we originally thought. The Dolores River flows across an enormous salt dome. That salt dome in places is as much as a mile thick. We originally believed that the flow of surface water over that salt dome was causing the heavy salinity contribution to the Dolores River. However, more detailed investigations have revealed that most of the salt contribution is from ground water that is seeping up through the salt dome and getting into the river. Some tests on that salinity of that water have run as high as 260,000 parts per million, which is an incredible concentration of salt. It is many, many times over the salinity of the ocean. It appears that we could develop a feasible project by lowering the ground water table and preventing the escape of the ground water into the river and then evaporating that water by the construction of a large offchannel reservoir. This would require a reservoir of sub- stantial capacity, probably somewhere in the magnitude of 70,000 acre- feet, in order to get the amount of water pumped out in equilibrium with evaporation. This appears to us to be a very promising project because it would not require a desalination plant. It would require the construction of a sizable reservoir, but the pumping costs for the water would be very small as compared to the operation of a desalination plant. We think that this is a must for an authorized project. That is under the jurisdiction of Mr. Wiscombe's office in Durango. His office has been doing the feasibility investigation on the project. We think the Grand Valley is a feasible project. The Grand Valley area does contribute substantial amounts of salt to the river. How much can be attributed to irrigation and how much from natural sources, no one knows at this time. That is part of the investigation being done by this board in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation and other federal agencies to determine how much salt reduction could be achieved with canal linings and on-farm improvements in irrigation efficiency. It appears that as much as 300,000 tons of salt could be -7-