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<br />-38- <br /> <br /> <br />canal and lateral lining wo~ld combine many' old earthen <br />laterals. Total salt load reductions are estimated to be <br />8,800' tons per year wi th about 7,700 tons. resulting from <br />~v lateral improvements. This unit has met the prerequisite <br />~ for construction. <br />q) Virgin Valley (USDA). The area consists of about <br />0) 5,000 acres of irrigated lands in southern Nevada. The <br />plan includes improvements of about B miles of off-farm <br />oanals and laterals. Deep percolation reduotion for the <br />planned actions is estimated to bel9,~00 acre-feet per <br />year and salt load reductions would be 37,200 tons per <br />year. <br />While the Virgin Valley is independent of any <br />Reclamation salinity oontrol project, the downstream <br />impacts on Reclamation's Lower Virgin River Unit are to be <br />evaluated by Reclamation and SCS colleotively. Otherwise, <br />this unit has met the prerequisite ,for construction. The <br />Virgin Valley,report was p~blished in March 1982. <br />San Juan River lReclamation). San Juan River Unit <br />investigations area includes the entire 23,000 square mile <br />watershed from its headwaters in south-central Cqlorado to <br />its mouth at Lake Powell. The drainage contributes <br />approximat~ly one million tons of salt annually to the <br />Colorado River Basin. The study area covers many thousands <br />of square miles of natural resource lands as well as <br />agricultural, municipal, and industrial areas which may <br />oontribute controllable salt. Most of the natural source <br />of salt is contributed 'by surfice runoff and ground water <br />discharge from the Nacimiento Formation and Mancos shale. <br />Many thousands of acres of vegetation along the streams and <br />washes contribute to salt concentration. Irrigation <br />projects, coal-fired powerplants, surface mining <br />operations, oil and gas fields, and refinery operations <br />also contribute to th~ river's salinity. <br />Initial investigations indicate that the Hammond <br />Project, Na\'sjo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP), and the <br />Hogback Irrigation Project (also a Navajo Indian project) <br />are the principal irrigation sources of salt in the basin, <br />with control on the Hammond Project being cost effective. <br />Investigation will continue on these other areas. <br />The Hogback Project contributes heavy salt loading but <br />the mechanisms have not yet been identified. Other human <br />caused salt contributions include abandoned gas or oil <br />wells which have developed leaks at the wellhead, coolant <br />discharges from powerplants, 'and wastewater from a <br />petroleum refinery. <br />Dirtv Devil River (Reclamation). The Dirty Devil <br />River study area, in Emery and Wayne Counties in southern <br />Utah, include the Muddy Creek, the Fremont River, Dirty <br />Devil River, and the tributaries of Muddy Creek, Salt Wash, <br />and South Salt Wash. The drainage contributes <br />