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The heavily urbanized areas of southern California receive Colorado River water distributed by the Metropolitan Water District. Urban water users of Colorado River water have been experiencing economic detriments due to both salinity and hardness. ~ Several hundred thousand water users have installed individual water ~ softeners on their plumbing facilities, but this process aggravates the ~ already existing salt balance problems in ground water basins of Southern ~ California. Blending with other imported water supplies of lower salinity is practiced; however, increased demand on those other supplies for additional blending to offset Colorado River water salinity increases would have serious adverse effects. Further, as the salinity of the Colorado River water for urban use increases, the potential for water reuse decreases, thus increasing the de~d for additional water supplies. Most of the salinity in the Colorado River derives from sources upstream from California, but there are local contributions in the Palo Verde Region. The Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Palo Verde Irrigation District, has initiated a detailed study of the sources of salinity and possible control schemes for the Palo Verde Valley. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum has developed a plan for salinity control of the Colorado River. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 7), which borders the river, closely monitors any developments which might impose additional salt loads on the river. The primary water quality concern of California is to ensure that the salinity objectives of the Forum are met. It is therefore essential that the fiscal and institutional problems be solved so that water quality improvement projects adequate to maintain the standards are brought on line. G. New Mexico No specific salinity problems have been identified within the Colorado River drainage in New Mexico. Water quality monitoring throughout New Mexico indicates that stream water quality generally good and is consistent with standards in over 90 percent of the perennial streams in the State; however, more than 500;000 tons of salt per year are picked up in the San Juan River below Farmington, New Mexico. In october 1985, the Bureau of Reclamation initiated the San Juan River Salinity Study to identify these and other salt sources in the San Juan Basin. The study is scheduled to be completed in FY 1989. H. Main Stem Reservoir Quality Each summer, the upper riverine reaches of Flaming Gorge Reservoir experience intense blooms of blue-green algae that seriously degrade the water quality for game fish and recreational boating. There is also evidence that geochemical processes in the reservoir sediments affect both the intensity of the algal blooms and the salinity in the overlying water and that the algal blooms in turn affect the geochemical processes. At present, it is not known how effective restoration strategies, including external phosphorus and biological oxygen demand (BOD) loading 111-6