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<br />W <br />C"il <br />CJ1 <br />,... <br /> <br />Program Managers <br />Consider Various <br />Factors in Selecting <br />Projects' Methods <br /> <br />B-259297 <br /> <br />In their search for viable ways to control the amount of salt being added to <br />the Colorado River, program managers from BOR, BLM, and USDA have <br />considered a variety of site-specific methods. These range from lining <br />irrigation canals, to implementing more efficient irrigation systems, to <br />retiring land from agricultural use. In selecting a particular salinity control <br />method from among the available alternatives, agency officials said they <br />consider several factors. These factors include the various methods' cost <br />and effectiveness, as well as their feasibility and environmental effects. <br /> <br />According to agency officials, cost and effectiveness are key <br />considerations in selecting from among the alternative methods. Table 4 <br />illustrates the cost-effectiveness and other factors considered by BOR <br />managers (in December 1993) in evaluating alternative methods for one <br />project. <br /> <br />Table 4: Some Alternative Methods Considered for BOR's Sen Juan-Hammond Project <br />Projected <br />amount of salt <br />controlled <br />(tons/year) <br /> <br />Method considered <br />Line canals <br /> <br />Install low-pressure pipelines <br />Retire land <br /> <br />Install high-pr~ssure pipelines <br />Install low-pressure pipelines for the <br />Munoz Canyon part of project <br /> <br /> <br />Estimated cost- <br />effectiveness <br />(dollars/ton) <br /> <br />Comments' <br />Recommended method; most cost-effective; lowest <br />environmental impact; preferred by water users <br />None <br />Not acceptable to State of New Mexico and most <br />irrigators; could result in the elimination of up to 3,933 <br />acres of irrigated land and the abandonment of 27 <br />miles of canal and 10.3 miles of laterals <br />None <br />Water rights unavailable <br /> <br />27,700 <br />18,400 <br /> <br />$41.65' <br />88.75 <br /> <br />31,560 <br />18,400 <br /> <br />187.00 <br />235.00 <br /> <br />31,700 $98.00 <br />'80R subsequently estimated the cost-effectiveness for this method at $34 per ton, as reflected <br />in table 5. <br /> <br />Source: BOA. <br /> <br />BOR and USDA program managers use the'same formula to compute a <br />method's cost-effectiveness.3 Essentially, the formula divides a method's <br />estimated annualized cost by the tons of salt it is expected to control <br />annually, yielding the cost of preventing 1 ton of salt from entering the <br />river.' Annualized costs are composed of capital costs as well as <br /> <br />3BLM program managers do not compute cost-effectiveness, largely because of the multipurpose <br />nature of their salinity control projects. <br /> <br />4We did not evaluate the formula as a measure of cost-effectiveness. <br /> <br />Page 10 <br /> <br />GAOIRCED-95.58 Salinity Control Projects in the Colorado River Basin <br />