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<br />" <br /> <br />OJu7LS <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Environmental Protection Agency <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program <br />Accomplishments for fIscal year 1994 <br /> <br />During fiscal year 1994, EPA focused its Colorado River salinity program efforts on four <br />major areas: <br /> <br />. providing assistance on development of the 1993 Colorado River salinity standards <br />triennial review (1993 Review); <br /> <br />. providing reviews of environmental impact documents under the National <br />Environmental Policy Act (NEPA); <br /> <br />. coordination with the USDA and U.S, Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to address <br />wetland replacement concerns related to on-farm salinity activities; and <br /> <br />. providing comments for the public review process regarding the Bureau of <br />Reclamation's salinity program, <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />EP A requested that additional information be included in the 1993 Review regarding adequacy <br />of the salinity control plan of implementation in protecting the beneficial uses of the Colorado <br />River under various projected hydrologic conditions and sequences" Most notably this <br />information would describe the magnitude, frequency, and duration that salinity levels are <br />projected to exceed the numeric criteria, EP A is concerned that describing the adequacy of the <br />plan of implementation on the basis of salinity adjusted to long-term (multi-year) mean flow <br />conditions can conceal the extent of annual variability of salinity and how adversely affected <br />the beneficial uses will be, More attention needs to be given to this problem, We appreciate <br />the copy of the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS) run used for 1993 Review which <br />was provided at EPA's request by the states for EPA analysis. However, we believe that a <br />summary of the run and supporting analysis should have been made available to the public as <br />part of the 1993 Review, <br /> <br />Comments were provided on the Final EIS for the Price-San Rafael Rivers Unit. Comments <br />were provided to the Bureau of Reclamation on the draft environmental assessment for the <br />Hammond area of the San Juan River Basin Unit. <br /> <br />EPA contl!lued to address recommendations of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control <br />Advisory Council for coordination on wetland habitat replacement issues on the USDA on- <br />farm salinity program, The importance of these recommendations is underscored by the <br />magnitude of wetland impacts being predicted by USDA. Some activity took place to <br />implement the salinity wetlands action plan between EPA and the Soil Conservation Service <br />(SCS), However, progress has been slow in implementing the plan, This situation has been <br />discussed with SCS in an attempt to update the plan and initiate corrective actions, An <br />interagency field review of wetland replacement and water quality activities has been scheduled <br />for the McElmo Creek Unit in October 1994, <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />6 <br />