WSP06476

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1978
• Title: Salinity Management Options for the Colorado River -- Part 1 of 2 -- Title Page - Page 168
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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assist the United States Bureau of Reclamation
(USBR) in economic evaluation of the alternative
salinity eontrol measures,

RESEARCH PROCEDURES

An approach was taken to evaluate the reaction of
agrieultural, municipal, and industrial entities to
increasingly concentrated saline water found in the
Lower Colorado River Basin, This ineluded an
examination of the response to high salinity levels in
the past and a projection of these responses into the
future to serve as a guide for salinity eontrol
proposals, An aggregation of damages and eosts of
corrective measures were examined. This study was
desigued to eorrelate new information and update past
information in order to assist in decisions of
alternative remedial measures.

The initial segment of the research was designed
to estimate the direct agricultural damage due to
various salinity levels. This included identification of
the areas affected by the salinity problem, reeognition
of problem severity classes, definition of management
alternatives, estimation of the cost of various
management alternatives, estimation of yield respon-
ses due to specific salt concentration levels, and an
aggregation of the agrieultural damage function for
the basin. Dr, Frank Robinson, Water Scientist,
Imperial VaUey Field Station of the University of
California, and Dr. Ernest B, Jackson, Agronomist at
the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station served
as co-leaders for the agricultural damage segment of
the study. The United States Bureau of Reclamation
(USBR), under the direction of Dr, Alan P, Kleinman,
Chief, Economic Resources Braneh, Lower Colorado
Region, U ,S, Bureau of Reclamation, condueted
extensive research in estimating direct agricultural
damages in the areas identified above, Their work,
included in the study, summarizes much of the work
submitted by Dr. Frank Robinson and Dr, Ernest
Jackson and provides some estimates of the costs of
crop losses due to various salinity levels.

In meeting the second objective of the study,
research was conducted to estimate direct municipal
and industrial damage. This involved the identification
of the specific areas affected and the type of damage
relevant to each, Management alternatives were
defined and their respective costs were estimated,
aggregated, and expanded to represent the bastn.

Two specific areas were identified and examined. Dr.
Ralph C, d'Arge, University of California, Riverside
and later at University of Wyoming, concentrated on
two locations in the Los Angeles region of California,

Next, research was conducted to provide an
estimate of the direct eeonomic impacts of eontrolling
the Upper Basin. Included was an examination of
direct loading by agrieulture, municipal, and indus-
trial users, as well as natural diffuse sources. An
estimation of the control costs for the speeific levels of
salt concentration was calculated. The researeh in this
section was under the co-leadership of Dr, R,A.
Young, Colorado State University, and Dr, Jay C.
Andersen, Utah State University. Dr, Young exam-
ined the loading problems of the area, while Dr,
Andersen was responsible for the development of two
models to be used in estimating the direet eeonomie
impacts of the Upper Basin, A physieal model was
developed to prediet the response of soil, water, and
crop factors to irrigation, which was necessary to
supply the basic data, Then an eeonomic model was
developed to predict the cost effectiveness of various
programs. A multi-year analysis of management
practices was subsequently developed,

The final segment of the study involved an
estimation of indirect economic impacts. It was
neeessary to assemble input-output models and
operate these models to obtain indirect economic
impaets for specific levels of salt concentration, Dr,
Charles W, Howe, University of Colorado, eonducted
this research.

Special appreciation is due Dr, Norman A, Evans,
Director, Environmental Resources Center, Colorado
State University, and Dr. L, Douglas James,
Direetor, Utah Water Researeh Laboratory, and
Director, Utah Center for Water Resources Researeh,
They have given liberally of their time to correlate the
work of the many researchers involved in this project,

Because of the tremendous size of the finding of
tbis research, only summaries of the individual studies
are included in the main body of the text, The
complete reports are contained in the Appendices,
Placement of the individual studies eorresponds to the
order of tbe objectives. The identifieation of the leader
or co-leaders prefaces each report with a complete list
of the contributors for specific study areas prefacing
their respective reports in the appendices.

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