WSP04272

• File Number: 8277.600.10
• Description: Big Sandy River Unit - Colorado River Salinity Control Program
• State: WY
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 3/1/1989
• Title: Planning Report Concluding the Study on Big Sandy River Unit - Wyoming
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Title II of the act provides for programs to control salinity in
the Colorado River upstream from Imperial Dam to meet salinity
standards established by the seven Colorado River Basin States.
Title II also authorized the construction of four salinity
control units: Paradox Valley and Grand Valley Units in
Colorado, Crystal Geyser Unit in Utah, and Las Vegas Wash Unit in
Nevada.

Title II authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to
expedite planning reports listed in the Colorado River Water
Quality Improvement Program (CRWQIP), February 1972. The water
quality improvement program is a general investigation program
developed in early 1971 by the Bureau of Reclamation
(ReClamation) .

General Description of the Area

The Big Sandy River Unit area is primarily agricultural, with
irrigated lands along the Big Sandy River in the north and
grazing lands predominant elsewhere. The unit area is an
unbounded area between the towns of Eden, Farson, and Green
River, and from east of Rock Springs west to near the
Sweetwater-Lincoln County line. Sweetwater County had a
population of 41,723 according to the 1980 Census. The major
population centers are Rock Springs with a population of 19,458
and Green River with a population of 12,807. The communities of
Farson and Eden are not listed separately by the census; however,
Sweetwater County estimates indicated a combined 1980 population
of 379.

Interstate Highway 80 crosses the southern edge of the unit area
through the cities of Green River and Rock Springs. U.S. High-
way 191, formerly U.S. 187, extends northwest from Rock Springs
through the farming communities of Eden and Farson to northwest
Wyoming.

Geologically, the Green River Basin is a large, north-trending
structural feature which covers most of southwestern Wyoming.
The elevation of the Green River Basin floor is 6,400 feet near
the confluence of the Big Sandy and Green Rivers and about
8,000 feet along the southwestern flank of the Wind River Range.
Peaks are about 13,000 feet above sea level in this mountain
range near the Big Sandy headwaters. Numerous shallow, closed
depressions, caused by wind erosion, are common on the basin
floor. One of the largest closed depressions is Sublettes Flat,
located north of Farson. periodic flooding has left fine-grained
deposits in many of the depressions.

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