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()G2213 APPENDIX 6 Page 2 of 7 \ ~ha~ ~he water quality standards be met ~hrough construction and operation of a desalting plant, Given ~his, we believe i~ reasonable to conclude that Congress may now find ~hat use of the desalting process is no longer the mos~ desirable way to accomplish the goals of the in~ernational agreement. Para2raoh 2, 2nd sentence, No changes were deemed necessary in the final report. Para2raoh 2 3rd sen~ence. The suggestion ~o change "desalt" to "reduce the salinity of" is deemed unnecessary as it has no discernible effect on the report presen~ation. The Bureau's statement ~hat ~he irrigation drainage never reaches the River is only par~ly true. Except for the interim salinity control procedure of intercep~ing this water and diverting it ~o the Santa Clara Slough, this water would re~urn ~o ~he River. The en~ire purpose of cons~ructing and operating ~he desal~ing plant is to save the irriga~ion drainage so tha~ it can be re~urned to the River. Para2raoh 3. Is~ sentence. We believe that our conclusion was supported by ~he balance of informa~ion provided in ~he draft report. Also, the fact that these problems s~i11 exis~ 15 years after the Title I and II programs were au~horized does no~ reasonably lead us to the Bureau's expressed op~imism ~ha~ ~he issues will be resolved. especially since the Bureau provides no information as to how it in~ends to accomplish the uO:~'~..} resolution. We also have reser\Tacions concerning the Bureau's comment:. ' that the Colorado River Basin States have recen~ly indicated a willingness to work cooperatively in resolving these issues. We saw little evidence of previous cooperation, and the very fact that the Bureau responded that the states have only recently indicated a willingness to cooperate shows this has been a problem area, In October 1988, we discussed the subject of resolving legal and ins~i~u~ional issues related to procedures for ob~aining water use permits for salini~y control projec~s wi~h ~he Execu~ive Director of ~he Colorado River Basin Salini~y Con~rol Forum. He ~old us ~hat there was no curren~ plan to address these issues. He also said that ~he issues would be very difficult ~o resolve because the legal documents which alloca~e Colorado River water do no~ provide a mechanism for appor~ioning salini~y control wa~er losses between the upper and lower Colorado River basins or between states. Para2raoh 3. 2nd sen~ence, As previously discussed, ~he goal of ensuring that the Colorado River basin sta~es suffer no loss of their alloca~ed water is incorporated in ~he language of Sec~ion lOl(c) of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act. 31