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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />o <br />~ <br />-J <br />N <br /> <br />SECTION 5 <br />T';XTS'rING UPPER BASIN SALINITY CONTROL PLANS <br /> <br />THE GENERAL SALINITY PROBLEM <br />Early impressions of water quality in the Upper Basin <br />are recorded in the names given to the streams in the area. <br />Names such as Alkali Creek, Pleasant Creek, Bitter Creek, <br />Mudhole Creek, Killpecker Creek, Sweetwater Creek, Poison <br />Springs, Stinking Springs, and the Dirty Devil River, can be <br />found in every region of the basin. As the names would <br />indicate the water was often found to be undesirable for <br />many uses due to natural processes. <br />Controlling salinity in a major river basin is a <br />difficult task because it generally consists of a complex <br />mixture of natural and man-made, point and diffuse sources. <br />Some sources are amenable to preventative measures. Saline <br />springs can be diverted and disposed of off-stream, irri- <br />gation return flows can be reduced or eliminated by reha- <br />bilitating the irrigation system and improving irrigation <br />practices, reservoirs can be managed to minimize evaporation, <br />and new water developments can be sited and operated to <br />minimize water quality impacts. Other sources of salinity <br />such as natural runoff may extend over such large areas that <br />the only feasible measure for control is to desalt some of <br />the aggregate flow at a downstream point. Skogerboe et al. <br />(1979b) discuss some of the methodologies to determine and <br /> <br />1 <br />