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<br />east of Meeker, Colorado, tapped a supply of warm, salty <br />water (19,000 mg/L) and increased the Colorado River salt <br />load by about 57,000 tons per year. As a result of the <br />~ well drilling, artesian pressures decreased and many <br />~ natural springs in the area dried up. In 1968 the Meeker <br />00 well was plugged by Reclamation, and in a few months other <br />00 wells and seeps in the area began discharging saline water. <br />During verification studies, the abandoned Scott, <br />James, and Marland oil wells we~e cleaned and plugged. <br />After plugging of the three wells, a significant reduction <br />in g~ound water levels and spring and seep flows occurred, <br />and eventually flows from the springs and seeps ceased. <br />With the plugging of Meeker well, the total salt loading <br />was reduced by 48,000 tons. Cost effectiveness of the <br />reduction of salt load from the three wells is about $14 <br />p~r ton. A planning report concluding the study was <br />published in July 1985. <br />Paradox'Valley (Reclamation). Paradox Valley, a <br />coliapsed salt anticline,is a northwest-southeast trending <br />valley 3 to 5 miles wide in southwestern Colorado. Local <br />ground water comes into contact with the top of the salt <br />formation where it becomes nearly saturated with sodium <br />chloride and surfaces in the Dolores River channel in <br />Paradox Valley. Studies conducted by Reclamation have <br />indicated that the river picks up over 205,000 t6ns of salt <br />annually from this saline ground water source as it passes <br />through the valley. , <br />The proposal for ~alinity control involves lowering <br />the freshwater-brine interface below the river channel by <br />ground water pumping. The extracted brine would be <br />injected in deep wells in Paradox Valley. About 180,000 <br />tonS of salt would be removed annually by this project. <br />Construction of the well field began shortly after the <br />Definite Plan Report was issued in January 1979. The well <br />field pump tests confirm that salt pickup by the Dolores <br />River can be significantly reduced by ground water pumping <br />at a rate in the range of 1.0 to 2.0 cubic feet per second <br />(cfs) . <br />The ongoing testing program consists of verification <br />and refinement of controlling brine inflow to the river, <br />design data collection for future facilities, if required, <br />and drilling and testing an injection well. Reclamation is <br />using outside consultants for technical assistance on the <br />deep injection well. An injection well is being <br />constructed and is to be tested over a two-year period to <br />determine characteristics of the disposal formation. Based <br />on these characteristics, the required number and location <br />of additional disposal wells, if needed, win be <br />determined. <br />The water rights issues have been resolved between the <br />State of Colorado and Reclamation. The Water Court has <br />issued conditional decrees for the ground water wells and <br />an absolute decree for Reclamation's change of water right <br /> <br /> <br />-30- <br />