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. . ~ P.L. 93-320, P.L. 92-500, and state water quality regulations. However, ~ the structural controls described in P,L. 93-320 are not sufficient to ~ achieve the necessary salinity levels as development occurs in the Basin. 00 Nonstructural salinity control measures may involve a variety of techniques: improving efficiency of water application and use (conser- vation); treatment and separation of usable water from brine and resi- dues which are consumed or disposed of; or disposal of the untreated saline water by evaporation or deep well injection. Because of high costs of alternatives, the third method--consumptive disposal of un- treated saline water--is most common. Under the "Appropriation Doctrine" broadly common to the seven states of the Colorado River Basin, the waters of the states belong to the people of the state. Those waters may be appropriated and put to beneficial use by any person based on a system of priority dates of ap- plication to use, and of preferential types of use. Each state in the Colorado River Basin establishes preferential classes of beneficial uses to which water can be put. Generally, the preference ranking descends from municipal to agricultural to industrial (including mining) usage. In recent years it has been (often success- fully) argued that in-stream uses for the maintenance of fish, wildlife habitat, and general aesthetics are also beneficial uses. To this end a complex series of federal and (except for Wyoming) state regulations have evolved to ensure sufficient water of appropriate quality to meet the needs of these classes of beneficial use. There are common requirements affecting water use among the seven CRB states: . The use to be made of the water must be "beneficial" un- der state-specific criteria; i.e., there is a prohibition of waste of water; . In all of the states except Colorado, the use proposed to \ be made of the water must satisfy a determination of its compatibility with the "public interest"; . The measure of the right obtained is that amount of water which can be put to actual beneficial use, In view of the prohibition against waste and the requirement for water use that is beneficial and in the public interest, there is a substantial question whether consumption, without an accompanying use, of water that is saline but still usable for many purposes, conforms with state water laws. 1II-17 ..