Laserfiche WebLink
<br />(.0..) <br />CJl <br />w::.. <br />(.11 <br /> <br />8.259297 <br /> <br />amendments also authorized BaR to construct two additional salinity <br />control projects and deauthorized one of the previously authorized <br />projects. <br /> <br />Federal agencies' efforts are coordinated through the Interagency Salinity <br />Control Coordinating Committee and the Technical Policy Coordination <br />Committee. At the state level, representatives from each of the seven <br />Colorado River Basin states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New <br />Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) serve on the Colorll;do River Basin Salinity <br />Control Forum and Advisory Council. The Forum coordinates states' <br />actions and, along with the Advisory Council, advises the federal agencies <br />on states' views on issues affecting salinity. The Forum developed <br />basinwide salinity standards for states' adoption, including a plan of <br />implementation. The Forum has also conducted triennial reviews of the <br />standards, including updates to the plan of implementation. <br /> <br />Regardless of the method used, the objective of salinity control is the <br />same: to decrease the salinity of the river by preventing salt from directly <br />washing into it or percolating through the soil and entering it. Among the <br />methods used are (1) lining irrigation delivery systems, such as canals and <br />laterals (ditches that carry water to plots of land); (2) controlling sources <br />of strong saline solutions, or brine, either by pumping the brine into wells <br />below the water table or by plugging its source; (3) controlling the erosion <br />of saline soils; and (4) improving or modernizing agricultural irrigation <br />systems to reduce the amount of irrigation water used, and in turn reduce <br />the amount of salt contributed to the river. <br /> <br />Cost and Status of <br />Salinity Control <br />Projects <br /> <br />By the end of September 1994, BOR, BLM, and USDA had spent a total of <br />about $362 million on title II salinity control projects. BaR had completed <br />construction on 3 ofits 10 salinity control projects; the remaining 7 were <br />in various stages of planning or construction. BLM had controlled salinity <br />through projects specifically devoted to this task as well as through <br />multiprnpose projects. USDA had conducted salinity control projects on <br />farms in cooperation with individual farmers. (See app. I for more <br />information on the program activities of the three agencies.) <br /> <br />Bureau of Reclamation's <br />Projects <br /> <br />Through September 30, 1994, the Congress had authorized BOR to spend up <br />to $301 million on the construction of salinity control projects, of which <br />$266 million had been expended. (The authorization total, or ceiling, has <br />been increased each year to reflect inflation.) Within the authorization <br /> <br />Page 4 <br /> <br />GAOIRCED~95-58 Salinity Control Projects in the Colorado' River Basin <br />