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~~~ U~-~~jO ~~.~ l...t(J:I~~ - tlJlLIl,. . Purpose This paper constitutes compliance with Section 104 ofthe Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (Act), which requires the Secretaty oflnterior to notify t~~~ppropriate eommittees of the Con;nss60 days pnor to expendin, funds on modifications of projects authorized by the Act. The Bureau of Reclamation intencb to market water produced by the Yuma DaaltiJIg Plant (YDP), as authorized by the Act, to offset thec;oat olmalntalnillJ the plant in ready reserve $latus and conserve wata' presently being bypa.lSed 10 tbe Republic of Mexico (Mexico). By marketing one-third ofYDP capacity, Reclamation ..ill reduce fedetOll outlay. Marketin, one.third ofYDP won't impair ~damation's ability to satisfy the salinity requirements of Minute No. 242 with Mexico. To make marketing of the YDP successful, Reclamation requesu that Congress specifically acknowledgc our need to operate the YDP with advanced funds and the need to operate the YDP with these funds even ifno budget authorization exists. We also request Congress put an appropriation ceiling in the budget which recognizes the advanced funding from non. federal sources. Why YDP Was Built Hisrory of tile SlZliniry IUlle The salinity problem with Mexico began in 1961 when the Welhon-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (WMIDD) sta"ed discharging saline Water Imperial Dam and NIB Salinities Slnee 1941 2500 ! 2000 . . . a ISOO . " . : 1000. ; ~ . . . ~ I I ." 2000 o ., 50 to SO 70 eo Yea... Dr R.cord . NIB @ Imperlll Oarn z r-."'.:l . ., from drainage welis (average salinity of 6,000 partS per million {p/mD to the Gila Rivcr. The Gila Rivu drains into the Colorado River upstream of thc Nottherly International Bounduy (NIB) with Mexico but downatream of all United States water divenions. Allo, at this time Reclamation w;a.s filling Lake Mead in anticipation of the completion of Glen Canyon Dam, so Cleas deliveries to Mexico were reduced and less water flowed down the Colorado River to dilute the WMIDD return flows. As a rcsull of these actions, the salinity levels in water delivered to Maico at the NIB increased to, at times, mare than 2000 plm (see cha", Imperial Dam a7Ui NIB Sali7lws Si7les 1941). Mexico's objections to these high salinity levels rcsulled in three successive minutel ~o the Mexiam Watcr Treaty ofl944 to resolve the salinity problem: Minutes 218, 241, and 242. Minute No. 242 W8.5 to be the .permanent and definitive solution to the international problem of salinity of the Colorado River,n and established water quality criteria. The Minute requires that the aVenlge annual salinity of water delivered to Mexico at the NIB be within liS +/- 30 parts per million of the average annual salinity of water arriving at Imperial Dam. The Act supplemented Minute No. 242.Thc purpose of the Act was to provide measures to ensure the salinity requirements of Minute No. 242 would be met without adversely impacting the seven Colorado River basin statcs, either in tCIIm of dollars or water resources. The basin states consist of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. The Act authorized, among other things, the reduction of irrigated acreage and improved irrigation efficiencies in the WMIDD to reduce its drainage return flows, construction of a bypasl drain to the Gulf of California, lining of 49 miles of the CoacheIla Canal, construction of a well field within the S-mile zone along the Statc of Arizona's Southerly Intemational Boundary with Mexico, and construction of the YDP (see Yuma tlrea Offiu 3, ~SO...~ Faci1irW Map). 13 a _.:> Article 102(a) of me Act authorized the concrete 3.h I 2. cpo lining of 49 miles ofthe Coachella Canal to allow the I United States to temporarily offset the water lost by implementing Minute No. 242. The Act authorized the United States to bypass WMlDD drainage return flows around Morelos Dam and replace those flows with an equal volume of waters saved by lining the Coachella Canal, approximately 132,000 acre-feet per year (acre-Nyr). This allowed the United States to M.iZrluM, YwlO4 DRalli", Pltull Walft"-1996 00 '~"':Io? I'''' :> rF t-~g,