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<br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />;- - 3 - <br /> <br />c\) <br />..-t <br />Cl oppos iti on from other water users. <br />C~ <br /> <br />But. there ~ an abundance of saline water in the West. and it's expected to <br />work well in the AQUATRAIN system. The primary source of saline water for this <br />project will be the Colorado River. the major drainage of the American South- <br />west. <br /> <br />From its birth high in the Rockies to its final destination on the coast of old <br />Mexico. the Colorado is the river of life for millions of acres and millions of <br />people. But the old river has a prob1em....sa1t. including ordinary table salt <br />as well as others less well known. <br /> <br />The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has designated 16 sources of saline water. <br />scattered along the river's route through five states. as salinity control units. <br />Some of these units are natural mineral springs and seeps; about 70% of the <br />salt load carried by the Colorado comes from natural sources. The rest results <br />from irrigation of agricultural land. But. regardless of source. the high <br />salinity of the Colorado River causes major problems for all water users. <br /> <br />Here are a few examples. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation estimates that the annual <br />cost of residential and agricultural damage resulting from saline water is $96 <br />million and this amount will increase to $237 million by the end of the century. <br />In addition. each increase of 1 milligram per liter in salt concentration at <br />Imperial Dam will cost almost a half million dollars more each year. <br /> <br />The salinity problems aren't restricted just to the United States. The Colorado <br />River is important to Mexico. too. And the U.S. is obligated to protect the <br />quality of water delivered to Mexico by the Colorado. <br /> <br />Federal and state pollution control objectives require that 2.8 million tons of <br />salt be removed from the Colorado each year. beginning in the year 2000. Therefore. <br />the Federal government is now implementing major long-term control measures in- <br />volving the expenditure of millions of dollars to solve the saline water problem. <br /> <br />The AQUATRAIN project can contribute substantially to the salinity clean-up effort <br />by diverting the natural flow of certain highly saline waters away from the river. <br />and replacing them with fresh water. <br /> <br />Here's how the system will work. According to the U.S. Bureau of <br />one of the largest discrete sources of salt in the Colorado River <br /> <br />Reclamation. <br />is a series of <br />