WSP05057 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

This control plan~ the major features of which are a diversion dam~ desalt- ing plant~ and lined disposal ponds, was not cost-effective under current conditions. Other alternatives also were found unacceptable. Although a concluding report was issued for this unit in December 1981, a potential lower cost lining alternative for the disposal ponds could make the project cost-effective. A local water conservancy district requested reinitiation of the project, which is to begin in FY 1983. Also, the use of LaVerkin Springs water for powerplant cooling has been recently discussed. Lower Virgin River Unit, Nevada-Arizona The Lower Virgin River Unit includes the former Littlefield Springs Unit and the entire Lower Virgin River from just above Littlefield Springs to Lake Mead. The feasibility study of this point source unit did not identify a source of saline water whose treatment or removal from the river system would be cost-effective. A concluding report on Reclamation's investigation was issued in March 1982, but some new interest has arisen for the use of saline underflows and surface flows for industrial purposes. This phase of the study will begin in FY 1984. The SCS is investigating the possibility of reducing salt loading of the Virgin River from irrigated agriculture in the Lower Virgin Valley. Glenwood-Dotsero Springs Unit, Colorado The primary study area lies along a 16-mile reach of the Colorado River between Glenwood Springs and Dotsero in western Colorado. Numerous thermal, saline springs and associated ground-water inflows combine to be the largest "point" source of dissolved solids in the Upper Colorado River Basin. In this reach, about 25,000 acre-feet of water and more than 500,000 tons of dissolved solids enter the river annually. ' Some of the springs at Glenwood Springs have been developed commercially. The flows are collected for distribution to swimming pools, and the dis- charge from the pools is piped into the Colorado River. A preferred plan for study is expected to decrease the salt loading to the Colorado River by an average of 314,000 tons annually. Brine would be collected from Glenwood and Dotsero Springs and delivered via a 140-mile pipeline to be disposed in contour evaporation ponds near West Salt Creek on the Colorado-Utah border. Phase I of the investigations was conducted by a private contractor and planning for Phase II study is underway. Another alternat i ve is to del i ver the water to the proposed Aquatrai n project. The planning report/draft environmental statement is scheduled for comple- tion in June 1986. Meeker Dome Unit, Colorado The Meeker Dome, site of the Meeker Well and several other abandoned oil and gas exploratory wells, is a local anticlinal uplift in northwestern Colorado. The Meeker Well in 1968 was flowing at a rate of about 3 ft3/s and its highly saline water (12~200 mg/L) was increasing the Colorado River's salt load by about 57~000 tons per year. xviii