WSP00601

• File Number: 8273.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control - Federal Agencies - USGS
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 1/1/1996
• Author: USGS
• Title: Trend Analysis of Selected Water-Quality Data Associated with Salinity-Control Projects in the Grand Valley - in the Lower gunnison River Basin - and at Meeker Dome Western Colorado
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Stage II, which began in 1986, involved lining about
40 mi of canals and replacing about 320 mi of laterals
with underground pipeline. When Stage II is com.
pleted, the estimated decrease in salt load to the
Colorado River would be 151,000 tons/yr (Bureau
of Reclamation, 1985a, 1986). By early 1994, about
two. thirds of Stage II was completed.
The USDA on.farm salinity.control program
was started in 1979 in the Grand Valley and has contin.
ued through 1994. Once completed, the estimated
decrease in dissolved.solids loading attributed to the
on-farm improvements would be 132,000 tons/yr for
the Grand Valley Unit (Hedlund, 1994). Approxi.
mately 50 percent of the USDA salinity program in the
Grand Valley was completed by early 1994 (Emory
Johnson, Natural Resources Conservation Service, oral
commun.,1994).

Lower Gunnison Basin Unit

The Lower Gunnison Basin Unit consists of the
Gunnsion River Basin downstream from Blue Mesa
Reservoir, including the North Fork Basin (fig. I).
The primary irrigation project in this area is the
Uncompahgre Project (fig. l), which supplies water
for irrigation of about 86,000 acres. The BaR salinity
program in the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit was
focused only on the Uncompahgre Project. The BaR
(l982, 1984) estimated that about 360,000 tons/yr
of salt came from irrigation.induced sources in
the Uncompahgre Project. The estimated annual
dissolved.solids loading from the entire Lower
Gunnison Basin Unit was about 640,000 tons (Bureau
of Reclamation, 1984). The BaR's Winter Water
Replacement Program was designed to replace the
practice of using winter flows in canals and laterals
for livestock watering by expanding the existing rural
domestic water systems in the Uncompahgre Project
(Bureau of Reclamation, 1987). The replacement pro.
gram was estimated to decrease the annual dissolved.
solids loading from this area by 74,000 tons. Construc.
tion of the Winter Water Replacement Program began
in 1990 and, by late 1994, was about 95 percent com.
p]eted (D.W. Crabtree, Bureau of Reclamation, oral
commun.,1994).
Another salinity.control feature planned for the
Lower Gunnison Basin Unit is the East Side Lateral
Program, which is planned to replace about 188 mi
of laterals and 7 mi of small canals on the east side

of the Uncompahgre Project with underground pipe.
line (Bureau of Reclamation, 1994). That program
would decrease dissolved-solids loading from the
Uncompahgre Project by about 64,000 tons/yr. The
East Side Lateral Program was scheduled to begin
in 1995, but presently (]995) has been deferred
(U.S. Department of the Interior, 1995).

The total irrigated area in the Lower Gunnison
Basin Unit that was studied by the USDA for their
salinity.control work is ] 71 ,000 acres, which includes
the Uncompahgre Project. Once completed, the USDA
on.farm improvements were estimated to decrease
dissolved.solids loading from the Lower Gunnison
Basin Unit by about 166,000 tons/yr (Hedlund, 1994).
The USDA on. farm improvements were initiated in
]988 in the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit.

Meeker Dome Unit

Meeker Dome is a local uplift located east
of Meeker in the White River Basin (fig. 2). The
White River is a tributary of the Green River, which is
tributary to the Colorado River. The Meeker Dome
Unit was a BaR project that consisted of plugging
three abandoned oil wells drilled in Meeker Dome.
The wells provided conduits for the vertical move.
ment of saline, deep ground water into shallow
aquifers, which then discharged into the White River
(CH2M Hill, 1979, 1982). The purpose of the well
plugging was to decrease discharge of the saline
ground water into the White River. One well was
plugged in December 1980; the other two wells were
plugged by June 1981. A post.project study by
CH2M Hill (1982) reported significant decreases
in chloride loading with measurable decreases in
dissolved.solids loading from Meeker Dome. A]so,
seeps and springs dried up, and water ]evels in observa-
tion wells decreased after the wells were plugged.
Detailed monitoring activities ended in 1984 and, in a
concluding study, the BaR (1985b) estimated that
about 19,000 tons/yr of salt was removed from the
White River by the Meeker Dome Unit well plugging.
The saline ground water had high chloride and sodium
concentrations; the BaR (1985b) reported marked
decreases in concentrations of those constituents in the
river after the well plugging.

6 Trend Anelysls 01 Selected Water-Quality Data Associated With Salinity-Control Prolects In the Grand Valley,
In the Lower Gunnison River Basin, and at Meeker Dome, Western Colorado