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<br />OG2i35 <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br /> <br />The Colorado River Basin encompasses portions of seven States (Arizona, <br />California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, .yoming) and Mexico. The river <br />flows over 1,400 miles from its headwaters in Colorado to the Gulf of <br />California. It provides water for over 18 million people and is used to <br />irrigate over 1,700,000 acres in the United States. However, the river <br />carries about 9 million tons of salt annually past Hoover Dam, over half of <br />which is man-induced. This higu salt content causes millions of dollars in <br />damages to agriculture and domestic water users in the Lower Basin States. <br />Under the Clean Water Act, the seven Basin States adopted and EPA approved <br />numeric standards for maximum total dissolved solids (TDS) or salinity of <br />879 milligrams per liter (mg/l) measured at Imperial Dam. This numeric <br />standard is substantially lower than the 960 mg/l salinity levels projected in <br />2010 without the salinity control program. <br /> <br />Title II of the original Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 <br />(Pub. L. 93-320) specifically addresses the salinity problems of the river <br />upstream of Imperial Dam and instructed the Secretaries of Interior and <br />Agriculture to coordinate their activities. It further instructed the <br />Secretary of Agriculture to provide salinity control assistance through using <br />existing programs and authorities available to the Secretary. While the <br />U.S. Department of the' Interior (YSDI) had special legislation and funding to <br />implement authorized projects, USDA was limited to existing authorities. To <br />work with USUI on a cooperative program, USDA relied on financial assistance <br />from the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) available through ASCS and <br />technical support through Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) funds <br />provided by SCS. Using existing authorities, the Grand Valley (Colorado) <br />onfarm salinity control program was initiated in 1979, followed by the Unita <br />Basin (Utah) salinity control project in 1980. <br /> <br />The use of existing programs and authorities made it possible for USDA to <br />initiate a salinity control program in the Colorado'River Basin, even though <br />program limitations created difficulties and inefficiencies in implementing <br />a cost-effective salinity control program. The major problems were the annual <br />cost-share payment limitat~ou ot $3,500 per year and the inability to <br />cost-share with irrigation districts and canal companies for off-farm canal <br />and lateral delivery system improvements. In many cases, the $3,500 annual <br />payment limitations under ACP would require program participants to borrow <br />money for larger projects or install larger projects in a piece-meal fashion <br />over a number of years. This limitation contributed significantly to <br />inefficient use of cost-share funds and technical assistance staff. The lack <br />of authority to cost-share with irrigation districts or canal companies also <br />restricted the use of off-farm delivery system improvements that would reduce <br />off-farm canal and lateral salt loading problems. It often prevented <br />individual irrigators or groups of irrigators from utilizing the more <br />efficient and cost-effective onfarm gravity-pressure sprinkler systems. Other <br />program limitations include funding and staffing support for salinity control <br />planning studies and for information and education activities. These demands <br />either drew upon limited resources of existing programs or were not provided. <br /> <br />2 <br />