WSP03271

• File Number: 8273.700
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control - Federal Agency Reports - GAO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 3/29/1995
• Title: Water Quality - Information on Salinity Control Projects in the Colorado River Basin - Report to Congressional Requesters
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

GAO

United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548

Resources, Community, and
Economic Development Division

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B-259297

March 29, 1995

The Honorable George Miller
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Resources
House of Representatives

The Honorable Richard J. Durbin
Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on Agriculture,
Rural Development, Food and
Drug Administration
Committee on Appropriations
House of Representatives

The Colorado River provides municipal and industrial water for more than
18 million people in seven states; it also provides irrigation water for about
2 million acres of land. Yet the salinity, or salt content, of the river is high,
in large part because of natural features such as underlying salt formations
and saline springs. Agriculture is also a large contributor of salt to the
river, as irrigation water seeps through saline soils and returns to the river.
Salinity in the Colorado River corrodes water pipes and damages crops, at
an annual cost of about $1 billion, according to projections by the
Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). To address
such problems, the Congress passed the Colorado River Basin Salinity
Control Act of 1974. Title II of the act authorized the Secretary to
construct several salinity control projects, most of which are located in
Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Amendments to the act in 1984 authorized
additional projects for BOR and authorized projects by the Department of
the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and by the Department of
Agriculture (USDA). In addition, under the Clean Water Act, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved standards established by
the states for salinity levels for the river water.

Concerned about whether the various title II projects are effectively
combating salinity, you asked us for information on (1) the projects' cost
and status, (2) factors considered in selecting salinity control methods, j:
and (3) the Department of the Interior's measures of the salinity control
program's effectiveness. You also requested information on the
responsibilities and activities that the Departments of the Interior and
Agriculture have under the program; we provide this information in
appendix 1.

Page 1

GAOIRCED-95.58 Salinity Control Projects in the Colorado River Basin