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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />N <br />W <br />c, <br />o <br /> <br />in combination, resulted in the bypass of all the Wellton-Mohawk <br />drainage mentioned above, and finally arrived at what they termed <br />the "permanent and definitive solution to the international problem of <br />the salinity of the Colorado River," enacted on August 30, 1973, as <br /> <br />Minute No. 242 of the I nternational Boundary and Water Commission. <br /> <br />It was the intent of the two Governments to define a water quality <br /> <br />standard to which Treaty deliveries of Colorado River water to Mexico <br /> <br />above Morelos Dam would be subject. The standard agreed upon by <br /> <br />both countries and adopted in the Minute specified that all such water <br /> <br />would have an annual average total dissolved solids content of no <br />more than 115:t30 p/m over the annual average salinity of Colorado <br />River water arriving at Imperial Dam. This 115 p/m differential <br /> <br />established between the water at Imperial Dam and that at Morelos <br />Dam was necessitated by natural drainage flows which enter the <br /> <br />Colorado River between the two dams, not by the addition of the <br />Wellton-Mohawk pumped drainage, which would increase the river <br /> <br />salinity to a far greater extent than the natural flows. <br />In order to save the 200,000 or more acre-feet per year of <br /> <br />Colorado River water which was being delivered to Mexico in exchange <br />for the wasted Wellton-Mohawk drainage (a matter of great concern to <br />the Colorado River Basin States), and at the same time meet the <br /> <br />provisions of Minute No. 242, the United States decided, after investi- <br />gation of various possibilities, to desalt the Wellton-Mohawk drainage <br />for return to the Colorado River. Authorization to construct the <br /> <br />desalting plant, contained in Public Law 93-320, was given to the <br /> <br />3 <br />