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INTRODUCTION, SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This is a report on an investigation of a potential salinity control project located on the Palo Verde Irrigation District, situ- ated along the Colorado River between Parker Dam and Imperial Dam. (See Frontispiece Map). The investigation is part of the Colorado River Water Quality Improvement Program (CRWQIP), an investigational program of the Water and Power Resources Service aimed at evaluating the means by which the salinity of the river can be most efficiently controlled from the standpoint of cost effectiveness and time. The CRWQIP also includes studies of a number of other potential projects to control the discharge of salts to the river. Purpose and Scope The purpose of thi s invest i gat i on was to determi ne the feas i- bility of reducing the amount of salt in agricultural drainage enter- ing the Colorado River each year from the Palo Verde Irrigation District. About 900,000 acre-feet of river water are diverted to the District each year and drainage from the District to the river contains more dissolved salt than was contained in river diversions. The primary thrust of the investigation is to determine the amount of the salt discharged and the feasibility of reducing the salt discharge by more efficient irrigation water use. Authority for Investigation In 1972, an amendment to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500, set forth a public policy embracing nondegradation of water quality, pollution effluent discharge limitation, and eventual zero pollution discharge by 1985. The Act was interpreted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). to require numerical salinity standards on the Colorado River. Standards were subsequently established at three stations by the Colorado River Basin Salinity Contro 1 Forum, adopted by each of the Bas inStates, and approved by 002839 1