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<br />THE SALT PROBLEM <br /> <br />Salt Discharge to River <br />The Palo Verde Irrigation District is intimately connected to the <br />river system in that virtually all inflow comes directly from the <br />Colorado River (exceptions are minor overland runoff caused by rain), <br />and all outflow enters the river. Agricultural drainage from the <br />District contains salt that was present in the diverted water and salt <br />that is picked up beneath the surface of the District. <br />Since 1970, the Water and Power Resources Service has conducted <br />an Intensive Salinity Surveillance Program (ISSP) on the Colorado <br />Ri ver between Parker Dam and Imperi a 1 Dam. The program i nvo 1 ves <br />regular sampling of water quality in major diversions, agricultural <br />drains and the river itself between Parker Dam and Imperial Dam. The <br />data are combined with provisional Geological Survey data on divers- <br />ions from the river and inflows to the river, and estimates are made <br />of the annual tonnages of salt passing various points in the system. <br />The ISSP data from within the District indicate that the District <br />regularly discharges more salt to the river in its drainage than is <br />contained in the irrigation water diverted from the river. Thus <br />irrigation in the District causes a net salt discharge to the river. <br />Annual amounts have been: <br /> <br />Year <br /> <br />Salt Discharge <br />in Tons <br /> <br />1970 <br />1971 <br />1972 <br />1973 <br />1974 <br />1975 <br />1976 <br />1977 <br /> <br />199,356 <br />156,356 <br />149,083 <br />155,079 <br />120,239 <br />142,236 <br />243,767 <br />168,763 <br /> <br />167,000 <br /> <br />Average <br /> <br />nc."c,",.O <br />\. ....,.\)\.I <br /> <br />10 <br />