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. . Because the Yuma plant will maintain this differential rather than de- ~ salting to a specific target level, any reduction achieved at Imperial en Dam will be realized in Mexico as well. c,Jl ~l The relevant study of Mexican agricultural losses from Lower Colorado River salinity was conducted by Oyarzaba1-Tamargo and R. Young,16 Their study was very much like that of Kleinman and Brown, though limited to direct agricultural income losses. However, they state that "It is likely that indirect impacts were large, particularly in the period immediately following the drastic decline in water qual- ity and quantity" [1962 with the commencement of the Well ton-Mohawk project and the filling of Lake Powell]. We have therefore added in- direct losses using the Kleinman-Brown multiplier of 5,3. A complicating factor is translating pesos into dollars. The original figures were in 1976 pesos translated into U.S. dollars at an exchange rate of 12.5 pesos/U.S. dollar. Since then, the peso has been devalued to approximately 24 pesos/dollar, but Mexican inflation rates have accelerated since the devaluation to more than twice U.S. inflation rates. In compiling Table 111-9 below, we have used the same U,S. dol- lar figures reported by the authors. However, in keying damages to the level of salinity at Imperial Dam, we have assumed that the Mexica1i Valley level is 100 ppm higher in keeping with Minute 242 of the Inter- national Boundary Commission that requires the U.S, to deliver water to Mexico with an average annual salinity level not more than 115 ppm (~ 30 ppm) above that at Imperial Dam. The area studied by Oyarzabal-Tamargo and Young is next to the U.S. border on both sides of the Colorado River and comprises about 500,000 acres in the Mexicali Valley of Baja, California and the San Luis Valley in the State of Sonora. Benefits of Salinity Control The previous section shows that a salinity control program on the Colorado River will provide annual benefits in the U.S. of $450,000 for each mg/l of TDS reduced (as measured at Imperial Dam). If the 16 ' Francisco Oyarzabal-Tamargo and Robert A. Young, "The Colorado River Salinity Problem: Direct Economic Damages in Mexico," paper pre- sented at the Western Agricultural Economics Association, July 1976, Fort Collins. Also "Economic Impact of Saline Irrigation Water, Mexi- cali Valley, Mexico," Ph,D. dissertation by Francisco Oyarzabal-Tamargo, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, 1976. III-14