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<br />For the tributaries the dissolved solids concentration and character <br />varied from the headwaters down stream. Eagle River at Gypsum had a concen- <br />tration of 293 p.p.m. with sulfate and chloride higher than in the Colorado <br />River above the Eagle. The Gunnison at Grand Junction had a concentration <br />of 709 p.p.m. with sulfate the principal acidic constituent. Dolores River <br />at Gateway, Colorado, had a concentration of 507 p.p.m., with appreciable <br />proportions of sulfate and chloride. These'tributaries are responsible to <br />some extent for the increase between Cameo and Cisco. Green River had a <br />concentration of 306 p.p.m. at Jensen, Utah I considerably lower than that <br />of the Colorado. There is increase downstream in dissolved solids of the <br />Green River, but at its mouth the concentration is lower than that of the <br />Colorado. San Rafael River, tributary to the Green, is of high concentra. <br />tion, having had 1,870 p.p.m. in February 1948, with sulfate the principal <br />constituent. The San Rafael is so small in proportion to the Green that it <br />has little effect. <br /> <br /> <br />The San Juan brings in appreciable quantities of water and large <br />quantities of sediment, but the chemical qU:ality is good, the average dis- <br />solved solids content being 339 p.p.m. The' Bill Williams brings in rela- <br />tively small quantities of moderately mineralized water, but with a rather <br />high sodium percentage. The Gila at Solomonsville, 528 p.p.m.,is relatively <br />high in chloride, which can be attributed in part to salt springs in the San <br />Francisco drainage basin. <br /> <br />The average values given represent pretty well the quality of the <br />water that would be available in a reservoir if the entire annual flow were <br />caught, well mixed, and if nothing else happened. The analyses for Grand <br />Canyon and Hoover Dam show that some things do happen during storage. The <br />increase of more than 100 p.p.m. is evidenqe of changes that take place in <br />Lake Mead. Evaporation losses from Lake Mead are about 750,000 acre-feet <br />a year. The dissolved solids of this evaporated water are left in the <br />reservoir. There is precipitation of Chemical compounds in the lake. The <br />white deposit along the shore line consists chiefly of silica and calcium <br />carbonate. During the first fourteen year$ of storage about 1,000,000 tons <br />of silica and 9,000,000 tons of calcium ca~bonate were precipitated in the <br />lake. Also soluble salts in part of the reservoir area have been dissolved. <br />In the fourteen years of storage there was;a net gain of about 20,000,000 <br />tons of dissolved solids, chiefly sulfate,: chloride, calcium and sodium. <br />Records indicate that the rate of solution'has decreased, because the more <br />easily soluble beds have been dissolved and some covered with sediment. It <br />seems certain that the maximum increase in dissolved solids in Lake Mead <br />has been experienced. <br /> <br />The volume of water draining irri~ated areas may be low, but the <br />dissolved solids content of the drainage waters is usually high and will <br />have an appreciable effect on the quality of the main stream. This effect <br />is very noticeable where the water is used several times, as in the Salt <br />River Valley. It is not safe to make a general statement concerning quality <br />conditions in the Salt River Valley except' that they are not good and need <br />detailed study. Water at the head of the Gillespie Canal in May 1945 had a <br />dissolved solids concentration of 4,070 p.p.m. and a sodium percentage of 67. <br /> <br />Standards of water quality are not too well fixed. The U. S. Public <br />Health Service has set up standards for water to be used in interstate car- <br />riers, but those standards are not applicable at this time to most uses in <br /> <br />-18. <br />