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<br />, <br />, <br /> <br />g 21.02[8] <br /> <br />MINERAL LAW INSTITUTE <br /> <br />21-18 <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />completion in 1989.59 Most are located in the Upper Basin. <br />The CRBSCA also sanctions an array of other methods to <br />control salinity, including canal lining, projects to reduce the <br />return flow of particularly saline irrigation water, and the <br />circumvention or deflection of saline water from natural <br />sources. These projects are to be financed by the federal gov- <br />ernment, but repaid in part from money in the Upper Colo- <br />rado River Basin Fund and the Lower Colorado River Basin <br />Development Fund (which was established by the Colorado <br />River Basin Project Act).60 <br /> <br />The Clean Water Act61 also pertains to salinity control in <br />the Colorado Basin. It authorized the United States to fix ef- <br />fluent standards governing the amounts of pollutants that <br />can be released from "point sources," such as conduits and <br />ditches, and to control such discharges through a permit sys- <br />tem. It also authorized the United States to control the gen- <br />eral water quality of streams, although that is a much more <br />difficult endeavor to accomplish. <br /> <br />No Basinwide authority has been designated by federal <br />legislation to manage the effort to correct the Colorado River <br />salinity problem. But in 1973 the Basin states organized the <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum. In 1975 the <br />Forum established Basinwide salinity standards and devel- <br />oped a plan of salinity contro1.62 The emphasis of the plan <br />has been on the construction of the federally-funded projects <br />authorized by the CRBSCA. The Forum's approach has with- <br />stood a court challenge from the Environmental Defense <br />Fund under the Clean Water Act and the National Environ- <br />mental Policy Act.63 <br /> <br />The salinity problem is now perceived to threaten users <br />throughout the entire Basin, although Upper Basin agricul- <br /> <br />59Id. at 463. <br />6043 U.S.C. ~ 1595 (1982). <br />61 <br />33 U.S.C. ~~ 1251 et seq. (1982). <br />62 . <br />Getches. supra note 7. at 465. <br />6342 U,S.C, ~~ 4321 et seq. (1982). See Environmental Defense Fund v. Costle, 657 <br />F.2d 275 (D.C. Cir. 1981). <br />