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P:ECLAMATION'S ROLE Bureau of Recl imat ion. ~ Units authorized for construction are the Ikand Valley, Paradox Valley, Crystal Geyser, and Las Vegas Wash Units. Crystal Geyser Unit, Utah, has been indefinitely postponed because of poor c6st~ effectiveness. Las V~gas Wash Unit is in a reformulation process because of changing ground-water conditions. . The Grand Valley Unit Stage One construction is nearing CClllpletlOn. The main canal lining in Stage One is complete, as well as the construction of the field-station. A contract. for the laterals was awarded in September 1981. Construction in stages will allow investigators to verify effects of initial developnent while plartllinq continues on the rest of the unit. The Grand Valley contributes about 7BO,ooO tons of salt annually to the Colorado River. Most of the salt is leached frl)11 the soil and underlying marine shale tiy water_ delivery syst8l1 losses and deep percolation. The tofal unit will reduce the salt load by about . 410,000 tons annually with an overall effect of reducing salinity concentrations at ImperiaJ Dan by 43 mg/L. Rec-l.Jllation will Ifne the canals, as autho- rized, and place the laterals in pipe to reduce seepaqe. The USDA will pursue onfam impJ"ove'llents, including upgrading of irriga~ tion systffils and irrigation management. Plans to provide a wildlife area and watering ponds to compensate for habitat losses result~ lng from the progran are dependent upon congressional authorization. ParadoxVal1ey'insouthwesternColorado is a collapsed salt anticline underlain by a salt dome. The dome adds about 205,000 tons of salt annuallytotheOoloresRiverfromsali_ne . ground water whiCh originates in the valley. . The unit is designed to remove 180,000 tons a year by !,ll.lllping the saline ground water (brine. 260,000 mg/L TOS) from-wells along theOoJores'River, thus preventing itfrOOl surfacing in the riverbed. - Oeep well inject-ion is' under study as a method of disposing of the brine. The first phase studies conclUded that deep well injection is teChnically, environmenta-lly, and economically attract ive. After construct ion of an jnjec~ tion well, filtration plant; and pipeline to test the-jnjection'fonnation for disposal capacity, a decision will be made on whether to use deep well injection as a permanent disposal method. Well field testing and verification will continue, altlloughstudiesonevaporationpond disposal, an alternative brine disposal method, will be suspended until more informa. tion Isavailableondeep-wel1lnjei:tion. Other units in theCRWQIP (ColoradO River Water Quality Improvement Progrillll are under study at various stages of completion. They are c-ategorized by the type of control antici- pated in each unit. Irrigation source control would reduce salt loadil1g by improving irdgation practices that currently leach salt from marine Shales and other saline deposits. The Grand Valley, lower Gunnison Basin, and McElmo Creek Units inColoradoj the Uinta Basin in Utah: and' the Palo Verde Irrigation District Unit in Califiornia are irrigation sources under evaluation. lmprovffilent of irrigation practices inal1 of theJie areas appears viable and could reduqe the river's.salt load by about 1.0 million tons per year. The Colorado River Indian Reservation Unit investigations have been concluded because of limited salln~ ity control opportunity. Point source control would remove salt from localized areas such as mineral springs, ). y.--- "'~ """'^ ~''''~ . l::::=-_ /~ --:1--...... ? ==~ ,_..-_...~ UlJITSQFTHECOLORAOOR:VER WATER QUAl;lTY IMPROVEMENT ?RnGRAM abandoned oil wells, and geysers. The Paradox Valley, Glenwood-Dotsero Springs, and Meeker Dome Units in Colorado; LaVerkin Springs and Crystal Geyser in Utah; Lower Virgin River Unit in Arizona and Nevada; and the Las Vegas Wash Unit in Nevada are point sources. Currently, a viable control plan is available only for the Paradox Valley Unit, having the potential to prevent 180,000 tons per year from entering the river syst~. Because of poor cost-effectiveness, investigations at laVerkln Springs and Crystal Geyser have been concluded. Diffuse source control would involve watershed management, land treatment, and the collection and disposal of irrigation return flows. Utah's Dirty Devil and Prfce.San-Rafael Rivers Units and Wyoming's Big Sandy River Unit are i.dentified diffuse sources. Investigations of diffuse source units, are excrnining a combina- tion of irrigation improvements, vegetation and watershed management, and selective withdrawal and disposal of poor quality stre.Jllflows. Asstllling that all agriculture source units and the Paradox Valley Unit are, successfully implenented, diffuse and point source control units would_need to reduce the river's salt load by an additional 1.B million tons per year. Saline water for energy use In a Special Report issued in Septe'llber 1981, the Bureau of Rec1anation proposed a Federal progrilllforf1nanc1a1 and technical assistance to encourage use of Colorado R1ver saline waters for energy develoj:lllent. Joint ventures w'lth prIvate industry to prevent saline waters from polluting the Colorado could save the-Nation billions of dollars. in the next few decades while reducing the cOll'lllitment of scarce Federal capital in a way that has multiple benefits. Therepnrt, "SalineWaterUse'd/l.dOlsponl Oppor:tunities," suggests joint ventures bei:ween government and industry to use ''''''''''' l-et' """ -- ~ "'W '-EX ! Colorado River Basin saline water for indus- trial purposes. Many sources of saline water can be tapped l:lefore they reach the Colorado. This water can be used for Cooling powerplants, trans- porting coal in coal slurry pipelines, oil Shale development, and possibly even POwer generation and desalting using the new tech- nology of solar salt gradient ponds. The_ innovati,ve concepts described in the report are considered alternatives to conven~ tional and very costly salinity control methods, such as desalting and evaporatiCin pond disposal. Agricultural and point source controls presently being pursued will remove ollly about 1.2 million tons of salt per year. To meet establiShed water quality standards, another 1.6 million tons of salt must be remo;red by using, treating, or disposing of a oart of the 600,000 acre-feet of saline waters per year identified in the study. Total investments for desalting or eva!Xlra- tion of the saline waters could cost frOOl S4 billion to sa billion, while assistance to industry to accomplish the Sel'll€: anount of salinity control through beneficial use of that water would reQuired only about one~fourth of that total investment. This study was conducted with the assistance of abroad range of interests including the Forl.lll, environmental groups, utilities, rail~ roads, coal producers, university researchers. and other Federal agencies. In general, the response frOO1 study participants has been strongly supportive of the study cOJtcepts with some groups expreSSing interest in participat- ing financially in feasibility studies of specific alternatives. Action by the Congress to authorize and fund saline water use studies and imPIt;t4ti.," along with expressions of interes It,iRt.,- tialusersarethenextstepsinl'~~ng these concepts., RECLAMATION'S ROLE