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<br />2345 <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS <br /> <br />This is a report on an investigation of a potential salinity control <br />project located on the Colorado River Indian Reservation, situated <br />along the Colorado River between Parker Dam and Imperial Dam. <br />(See Frontispiece Map). The investigation is part of the Colorado <br />River Water Quality Improvement Program (CRWQIP), an investiga- <br />tional program of the Bureau of Reclamation aimed at evaluating the <br />means by which the salinity of the river can be most efficiently <br />controlled from the standpoint of cost effectiveness and time. The <br />CRWQIP also includes studies of a number of other potential projects <br />to control the discharge of salts to the river, whose locations are also <br />shown on the Frontispiece Map. <br />Purpose and Scope <br />The purpose of this investigation was to determine the feasibility <br />of reducing the amount of salt in agricultural drainage entering the <br />Colorado River each year from the Colorado River Indian Reservation. <br />Nearly 2/3 million acre-feet of river water are diverted to the <br />Reservation each year and drainage from the Reservation to the river <br />contains dissolved salt. The primary thrust of the investigation was <br />to determine the amount of the salt discharged and the feasibility of <br />reducing the salt discharge by more efficient irrigation water use. <br />Authority for Investigation <br />In 1972, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control <br />Act, Public Law 92-500, set forth a public policy embracing nondegra- <br />dation of water quality, pollution effluent discharge limitation, and <br />eventual zero pollution discharge by 1985. The Act was interpreted <br />by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to require numerical <br />salinity standards on the Colorado River. Standards were subse- <br />quently established at three stations by the Colorado River Basin <br />Salinity Control Forum, adopted by each of the Basin States, and <br />approved by EPA [1]. The standards. set in terms of milligrams per <br />liter (mg/L) of total dissolved solids (TDS). are: <br /> <br />1 <br />