WSP04600

• File Number: 8277.100
• Description: Salinity Projects Not Located in Colorado - Colorado River Salinity Control Forum
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 2/1/1996
• Title: Report to Congress on the Bureau of Reclamation Basinwide Program
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Implementation Plan

. Operation and maintenance - Some proposals may be more or less
susceptible to poor O&M practices. To minimize this risk factor,
applicants may offer "robust" solutions that require relatively little
maintenance. For example, buried irrigation laterals require little
attention, while open concrete ditches are more prone to weathering
and require annual maintenance to remain fully effective.

The ranking team will consider the risk that the Government's capital
investments may be lost from poor maintenance. In the past,
Reclamation has provided supplemental, annual O&M funding to
maintain certain projects. Reclamation has found this difficult to fund
and administer. If essential to the continued performance of the
project, the program will consider (or may require) funding an
O&M trust to cost share the maintenance of capital improvements
and safeguard the program's investment. If funded by the program,
this cost would be included in the proposal's cost-effectiveness
computation.

. Management - Generally, projects that rely on a high degree of
management to maintain their efficiency will be downgraded unless
there is reason to believe it is sustainable. Highly automated
systems that are simple to operate will reduce this risk. For example,
automatic sprinkler shutoffs would improve management risks.

. Measurable or verifiable results - Projects in which the salt load
reduction can be independently verified add a degree of certainty to
the proposal. For example, interception of saline springs is a highly
verifiable method (both water volume and concentration can be
directly measured). Irrigation delivery system improvements are
somewhat more difficult to measure, but shallow monitoring wells
next to the lined canal can confirm the absence of seepage, and
drainwater can be used to measure concentration. Onfarm deep
percolation reductions may vary significantly from farm-to-farm and
from year-to-year. Statistical sampling may be required.

. Other factors - Any factors that might reduce the expected
performance and degrade the actual (realized) cost effectiveness of the
project.

Although the details of each proposal will be evaluated for performance risk,
the following practices would typically rank from lowest risk to highest risk:

. Industrial processes that interrupt brine source, treat the brine,
produce a measured (weighed) product, and bill the program.
Payments are made annually as salt is produced (or controlled). 00 ('I 2: 3
Measurement of salt is very accurate and only influenced by moisture '

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