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. . . o CO >l::>. l--' HISTORY OF WATER RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Continued) 3. Clean Water Act of 1977 Public Law 95-217, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amend- ments of 1977, (Conunonly referred to as the Clean Water Act) includes among other things, several significant amendments which will have a bearing upon salinity control activities in the Colorado River Basin. It assures State authority to allocate rights to quantities of water. By July I, 1978, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, after consultation with the States, should have submitted a report to Congress which analyzes the relationship between programs of the Clean Water Act and the programs by which State and Federal agencies allocate quantities of water including recommendations to improve coordination to reduce and eliminate pollution in conjunction with programs for managing water resources. The Act also includes provisions to require that Section 208 plans consider return flows from irrigated agriculture. Irrigated agriculture return flows are excluded from the "point source" definition and are not subject to NPDES permits unless the individual States so desire. A new program was established under Section 208 to provide tech- nical and financial assistance to landowners and operators in rural areas to implement area-wide management plans, Farmers may contract with the Department of Agriculture for cost sharing assistance to reduce agricultural runoff if the measures proposed are part of the 208 "best management practices." The Federal share could be as high as 50 per- cent, Federal agencies may also receive funds for implementing approved 208 plans. Section 404 was modified to exempt normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities from dredge and fill permit regulations. Federal activities specifically authorized by Congress may be exempted from 404 permit requirements if an environmental impact statement, which has information on the effects of such discharge, is submitted to Con- gress before the actual discharge of dredged or fill material occurs. Section 303(c) of the Clean Water Act requires that from time to time but at least once each three years applicable water quality standards be reviewed and revised as appropriate. Consequently, the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum began reviewing the 1975 standards and plan of implementation in late 1977. Based upon their review a report entitled "1978 Revision - Water Quality Standards for Salinity Including Numeric Criteria and Plan of Implementation for Salinity Control - Colorado River System" was disseminated for public review, Public meetings were conducted in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Novem- ber 14, 1978, and in Grand Junction, Colorado, on November 16, 1978. Based upon conunents received, the Forum developed a supplement to the report. 23