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<br /> <br />Water Quality <br />Control <br /> <br />WATER QUALITY OPERATIONS DURING <br />WATER YEAR 1973 <br /> <br />Since water quality aspects of Calorado River <br />operations ore extensively described in the bien- <br />nial series of reports entitled "Quality of Water, <br />Colorado River Basin," only minimal discussion of <br />this ospect of operation is presented in this report. <br />Report No. 6 of th i s seri es was issued in January <br />1973. <br />Specific water quality operations are per- <br />formed pursuant to Minutes Nos. 241 and 242 <br />with Mexico such that during water year 1973, <br />the United States bypassed 119,855 acre-feet <br />of drainage water to the Colorado River below <br />Morelos Dam and replaced it with a like <br />amount of other water. Even though th i s was <br />the only specific operation carried out for <br />quality purposes, other incidental benefits ac- <br />crue to water quality from normal procedures. <br />Water is stored in reservoirs during the nonirri- <br />gation season and during the snowmelt runoff <br />period when the water is surplus to the immedi- <br />ate requirements. As the streamflows diminish <br />in the late summer, storage water is released as <br /> <br />WetuoYl-Mohawli. BtjplL66 Cana.f., NUzoYla <br /> <br />needed to supplement the natural flows in meet- <br />ing demands. Although water quality control is <br />not generally recognized as a beneficial use of <br />surface water, this type of release pattern great- <br />ly enhances the quality of water in the Basin. <br /> <br />FUTU RE WATER QU ALITY CONTRO L <br /> <br />In recognizing the need to manoge the water <br />quality of the Colorado River, it has been <br />recommended that the salinity increases in the <br />river wi II be minimized through a water quality <br />improvement program generally described in <br />the Department of the I nterior's report "Colo- <br />rado River Quality Improvement Program," <br />dated February 1972. This program calls for a <br />basin-wide approach to salinity control whi Ie <br />the Upper Basin continues to develop its Com- <br />pact-apportioned waters. Intensive investiga- <br />tions are in progress on several units throughout <br />the Basin. Minute 242 was negotiated with <br />Mexico and became effective September I, 1973, <br /> <br />22 <br />