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C:,) o w::. OJ Yuma Desalting Plant Status Report May 1992 Background The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act became law in June 1974, It, authorized work to comply with agreements made by representatives of the United States and Mexico, The plan would bring a pennanent, definitive, and just solution to the international problems of Colorado River water salinity. The portion of the agreement which generated the Yuma Desalting Plant specified that the ap- proximately 1,360,000 acre-feet of water delivered annually to Mexico at Morelos Dam (about 5 miles west of Ywna, Arizona) have an annual average salinity of no more than 115 milligrams per liter (plus or minus 30 mg/l) over the annual average salinity of water arriving at Imperial Dam (about 20 miles upstream of Yuma). The legislation provided for the following major features: . constrncting a desalting plant to treat drainage return flows from the Wellton- Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District located east of Yuma and improv- ing irrigation efficiency to reduce the quantity of return flows, . constrncting a bypass drain to the Santa Clara Slough in Mexico at the Gulf of California, . concrete lining the Coachella Canal in southern Califomia to salvage water, . constructing a well field in southwestern Arizona to develop ground water for use in the United States and to deliver to Mexico up to 160,000 acre-feet annually. Yuma Desalting Plant The Yuma Desalting Plant is designed to help accomplish salinity control of Colorado River water, When needed, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) will salvage the drainage water, desalt it, and put it into the Colorado River to become part of the U.S, treaty-required water deliveries to Mexico. The drainage water presently flows into the Santa Clara Slough. The installed capacity of the desalting plant is 72.4 million gallons of product water per day. The plant will produce an average of about 68,500 acre-feet of product water per year at about 300 milligrams per liter total dissolved solids. This flow will be blended with raw drainage water to develop a total of 78,500 acre-feet per year of blended water to be delivered to the Colorado River.