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<br />--~~'--- <br /> <br />0C2164 <br /> <br />Force in mid-November. Its ten-year goal of 80 percent <br />efficiency was pronounced impossible by skeptical Interior <br />Department members and representatives of the Wellton-Mohawk <br />District.13 Brownell was nonetheless impressed by its <br />promise--and its low cost. When he issued his tentative <br />recommendations at the end of November, he included Stage I <br />of the program--improvement in overall project efficiency to <br />63 percent, using existing irrigation technology. <br />The Subgroup's full program--reliance on improving <br />irrigation efficiency until the mid-1980s, at which time <br />another decision on technical means would be required--did <br />not strike him as meeting the definition of a "permanent" <br />solution. His central recommendation was that the U.S. <br />commit immediately to building a desalting plant. <br /> <br />I <br />~ <br /> <br />The Special Representative presented his recommendations to <br />the Task Force and the Committee of Fourteen on November 28, <br />and asked for agency views from Task Force members. The <br />Executive Office agencies once again proposed the full <br />irrigation efficiency program as an alternative, and it was <br />once again rejected on the grounds of impermanence. His <br />final report, which became the basis for Title I of the <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974, was <br />delivered to President Nixon on December 28.14 <br /> <br />The Neqotiation of Minute No. 242 <br /> <br />During early 1973, Brownell's recommendations were under <br />review in the National Security Council and the Domestic <br />Council. The State Department, meanwhile, convened a small <br />interagency group, consisting of OMB, Interior, IBWC and <br />Mexican Desk staff to develop a U.S. negotiating position. <br />Not surprisingly, it was to be based on eliminating the <br />effects of Wellton-Mohawk return flows on Mexico's treaty <br />deliveries, and would tie Mexican water quality to that at <br />Imperial Dam. We would negotiate a salinity differential, <br />not a level. <br /> <br />13 <br />