BOARD02412

• Board Meeting Date: 7/26/1999
• Description: WSP Section - Colorado River Basin Issues - Colorado River Salinity Control - Triennial Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

2.

Implementation of the Forum's recommended and adopted policies for effluent
limitations, principally under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) permit program established by Section 402 of the Clean Water Act as
amended. The implemented policies (included in Appendix B of this Review) are
the following:

"Policy for Implementation of Colorado River Salinity Standards Through
the NPDES Permit Program;"

"Policy for Use of Brackish and/or Saline Waters for Industrial Purposes;"

"Policy for Implementation of the Colorado River Salinity Standards
Through the NPDES Pennit Program for Intercepted Ground Water;" and

"Policy for Implementation of the Colorado River Salinity Standards
Through the NPDES Permit Program for Fish Hatcheries."

3.

Implementation of non point source management plans developed by the states and
approved by EP A.

Item 1 of the plan listed above is to be impl~mented by federal agencies in conjunction with
state, local, and private participants. The Forum works jointly with federal agencies on developing
measures to be implemented. The Forum also urges Congress to ensure that the funds ne.cessary to
successfully fulfill this plan of implementation are appropriated as needed. Items 2 and 3 above are
priInarily implemented by each of the Basin states.

Major components of this Review's plan of implementation are the federal programs. Table
.1 summarizes the salinity control achieved by federal participants through 1998, and the salinity
. control measures which must be implemented to meet the goal of approximately 1.477 million tons
of salt-load reduction annually through 2015. As 1.105 million tons of salt load reduction was
required by 1998, and only 721,000 tons of salt load reduction was achieved, a shortfall of 384,000
tons must be made up. In order to do so, the Fonun recommends that salinity control be accelerated
to remove 87,000 tons/year through 2005. This includes removing at least 64,000 tons/year over the
next six years, through the funding recommendations herein, to eliminate the shortfall, and 23,000
tons/year through the remaining period to maintain the numeric criteria through 2015. The federal
programs are described in detail in Chapter 4 of this Review.

The plan of implementation is designed to coritrol enough salt to maintain the numeric
criteria under a long-term mean water supply of 15 million a~re-feet per year. It is recognized that
the river system is subject to highly variable flows. Consequently, salinity will vary from year to .
year and may temporarily exceed the adopted numeric criteria in some years and remain well below
the criteria in others.

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