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<br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />The Lower Gunnison Basin Unit investigation in west-central Colorado <br />is part of the comprehensive Colorado River Water Quality Improvement <br />Program (CRWQIP) which is designed to identify and implement programs to <br />improve the water quality of the Colorado River. The purpose of this <br />status report is to inform concerned interests of the costs and impacts <br />associated with the recommended plan for the unit. The report also <br />describes the setting, explains the public involvement process used in <br />selecting the recommended plan, and outlines problems and needs of <br />the area. The plan formulation process is described, including alterna- <br />tives considered and the standards used to evaluate them. Environmental <br />impacts are arrayed and future activities are discussed. <br /> <br />Authorization <br /> <br />The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974 (Public Law <br />93-320) provides for the construction, operation, and maintenance of <br />certain works in the Colorado River Basin to control the salinity of <br />water delivered to users in the United States and Mexico. Under the <br />act, the Secretary of the Interior was directed to expedite planning <br />studies on 12 salinity control units of a basinwide program to control <br />the salinity of Colorado River water, including the Lower Gunnison Basin <br />Unit. <br /> <br />Title I of the act authorizes the construction of facilities to <br />enable the United States to comply with its obligations under the <br />agreement with Mexico of August 30, 1973 (Minute No. 242 of the <br />International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico). <br />In brief, Title I provides the means of accomplishing Minute 242, which <br />requires that water delivered to Mexico have an average annual salinity <br />of no more than 115 ppm + 30 ppm greater than the Colorado River water <br />arriving at Imperial Dam-upstream of the United States-Mexican border <br />(ppm is a measure of the parts per million concentration of total dis- <br />solved solids, an indicator of salinity concentration essentially <br />equivalent to concentrations expressed in mg/L). <br /> <br />Title II of the act provides for programs to control the salinity <br />of the Colorado River upstream from Imperial Dam to meet salinity <br />standards established by the seven Colorado River Basin States. Title II <br />also authorized the construction of four salinity control units: Paradox <br />Valley and Grand Valley Units in Colorado, Crystal Geyser Unit in Utah, <br />and Las Vegas Wash Unit in Nevada. <br /> <br />Title II authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to <br />expedite the completion of planning reports listed in the Secretary's <br />report "Colorado River Water Quality Improvement Program, February 1972," <br />which is essentially the Colorado River Water Quality Improvement <br />Program. The Water Quality Improvement Program is a general investiga- <br />tion program developed in early 1971 by the the Bureau of Reclamation. <br /> <br />001718 <br />