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~ C) ~ ~ 2. Completion of the desalting building and equipment installation - 1988 and 1989. The design capacity of the plant is 96 Mgal/d, although only 73 Mgal/d is initially being built. Depending on the pro- gress of the programs to reduce irrigation return flows (the feedwater for the plant), more capacity can be added if needed. The total program cost for the Desalting Complex Unit, which includes the Yuma Desalting Plant, is $347,800,000. At 73 Mgal/d, the desalting plant will salvage up to 80,000 acre-feet of water per year. At this time, Title I overall is about 60 percent complete, based on a present expenditure of $265,500,000. With the award of the completion contract, the last major milestone was passed and we can see the end of this large and complex project. USDA's involvement in Title I relates specifically to onfarm treatments and water management improvements in the WMIDD (Well ton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District) in Yuma, Arizona. Any reduction of drainage return flows would reduce the demands and costs of operating the desalting plant. By improving irrigation efficiencies, a reduction of deep percolation into ground water reduces the amount of drainage return flows leaving the 65,000 acre District. The Well ton-Mohawk on farm Federal cost-sharing program was fully funded by Reclamation. Under authority of a BR-SCS Title I Memorandum of Agreement (December 1974), Reclamation reimbursed SCS for cost-sharing and technical assistance provided to individual participants through long-term contracts. The initial program for 23,800 acres was expanded during the annual renewal of the agreement in 1984 to 48,000 acres. This last renewal provided that all SCS contracting would be completed by September 30, 1985, and that all water manage- ment and salinity control land treatment practices would be installed by December 31, 1985. In 1985, 55 contracts were developed and signed covering 4,519 acres. Practices applied included 31 miles of ditch lining, 4,822 acres of laser land leveling, and 787 struc- tures for water control and measurement. The SCS designed irrigation systems and assisted farmers in their installation to reduce irrigation return flow. As of January 30, 1986, 366 contracts had been developed for assistance on 48,195 acres, which exceeds the project goals. 14