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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~~ <br />~ <br />~, <br />tv <br /> <br />importance to the West, where, as noted earlier, water <br />is scarce and where more than 50% of the available <br />water either originates in or flows through national <br />forests. \<hen, as in the case of the Rio Mimbres, a <br />river is fully appropriated, federal reserved water <br />rights will frequently require a gallon-far-gallon <br />reduction in the amount of water available for water- <br />needy state and private appropriators (United States <br />v. New Mexico, slip opinion, p. 9). <br /> <br />Water Quality Standards for Salinity <br /> <br />The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has promulgated standards <br />for salinity at three points on the lower Colorado River. It is intended <br />that federal salinity control projects and state water quality programs <br />(primarily the NPDES permit program) proceed in a manner which will permit <br />the Upper Basin states to continue the orderly and complete development <br />of their water resources. Assumi~g no change in the present standards, <br />future development would be limited if the flow weighted annual concen- <br />tration of salinity were to exceed those standards. Further complications <br />may also arise if the Environmental Defense Fund prevails in a pending <br />law suit which it has filed, asserting that stateline salinity standards <br />should be set. <br /> <br />1-11 <br />