WSP00256

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Western Slope
• Date: 6/1/1969
• Author: Myron B Holburt
• Title: Californias Stake in the Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Water Quality Problem.
The problem of water quality is interrelated with
and equal in importance to the problem of water qnan-
tit~, in the del'elopment and IIse of Colorado River, Of
particular concern to California is the dissolved min-
erai content (salinity) of the \Vater, Salinity in \Vater
is of large economic importance in most types of
water use including irrigated agriculture. GeneIal\.\'
speaking, commercial crops are not tolerant of heavy
concentrations of dissolved minerals either in the sojJs
or in the irrig:1tion water, Excess water must be ap-
plied to the fields in order to force through the soils
and drain away as much salt as is carried onto the
fields by the ir;igarion Wolter, or more for good meas-
ure-hence the term "salt balance."
California agriculture is particularly vulnerable on
this score, because it is at the lower end of the 1400-
mile river which because of l11an~' diversions and lIses
of water, accompanied by returns of excess diversions
and drainagc, becomes progressi\rely saltier :1S it ~ows
f rom its head,\"aters to the sea. The already mineral-
ized lowcr river \v"ill hecome more saline in the future
3S upstream irrigation activities increase. As it does,
morc water wi!! have to be applied to thc S;1IllC unit
of land in the lower river arca in order to maintain
salt balance and achie\"e the same rare of crop pro-
duction.
Troublesome legal questions are involved in the
mattcr of watcr quality, questions which are hound
with interst:He and e\'cn international rclations.
The Federal \Vater Quality Act of 1965 (PL 89-
234) prm.iclcs for establishment and enforcement of
water quality standards for such interstate waters as
the Colorado River System, It provides that if the
Sfates do not do this, the federal government will.
States of the Colorado River Basin in general deem it
advisahle that ther work together to find as large an
are.1 of agreement as the~' can, within which each state
may then establish more specific criteria to apply to
those portions of the stream system \vithin or along
its boundaries, This is not an easy task, In 1967 the
Colorado River Basin states agreed on guidelines for
formulating water quality standards. They also agreed
to defer a decision on adoption of numerical salinity
standards until after re\'iew of Federal reports on
salillity due in 1969, Inevitably some points will be
found upon which seven-state accord will be difficult
if not impossible,

On the international front, sharp controversy with
Mexico arose in 1961 when an Arizona project began
pumping highly saline water from its underground
basin into Colorado River, to mingle with the surface

'water in the stream at the boundary. Violent protests
were forrhcoming immediately from south of the
border.
In the interest of international comity, regardless of
whether rhere is a legal obligation, the United States
iHrcmpted to find means to alleviate the situation.
After length~' negotiations, international, federal-Sfate
and interstate, and deliberations by :l Culorado River
Basin States Committee of Founeen, a bypass channel
was builr to carr,\' part of the salty pumped drainage
,,",Her around the l\-lexican diversion structure. It is
represented as only an interim measure, however, with
no assurance that it will or can become the permanent
solution.

THE REGIONAL APPROACH
TO SOLUTION

Problems like those discussed in the preceding pages
will always be \Vith us, None will resol\'e itself, and
prob"bl~, few can be resoh'ed to perfection by even
the most diligent efforts of the experts, because of
differing needs and "iews and of changing conditions
and techniques. Nevertheless efforts must continue.
rf the Colorado were a bOllnteolls ri\'er the task
would be simpler, but that isn't the case, The defi-
cienc~' of water, hence the intensity of [he difficulties,
will increase as the population and economy of the
South,\'cst grow.
Since the date of the Supreme Court decision in
Arizona v. California, a spirit of interstate cooperation
has begun to replace conrro\~ersy on the Colorado.
That spirit must be fostered. In all the basin states,
major intere~ts arc now cOIn-lnced of the futility of
fighting over water shortages, and of the necessity of
adopting together a regional program to augment the
water suppl~' of the entire Southwest, particularly the
Colorado, for the assurance of an additional supply
offers the only real hope of an enduring solution to
some of the problems,
Augmentation of the flow of the Colorad" would
benefit the entire basin, It would swing the pendulum
of interstate relations back from the vexing difficulty
of sharing water shortages to the more pleasant pros-
pect of dividing water. Furthermore, water from a
purer source commingled with the native water of the
river would alle\'iate problems associated 'with the poor
chemical qualit)' of the lower Colorado,
Obviously then, one of the key considerations is an
inventory of all alternative sources of water supply
to dctermine where there is surplus water that couid
be used to augment the overcommitted Colorado with-
OUt detriment to areas of surplus, now or in the future.

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