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<br />"}0!:; <br /> <br />'" <br />-..J <br />W <br /> <br />,- <br />.l <br /> <br />;)(.j;) <br /> <br />, <br />" .""~.: <br /> <br />Water Quality Planning. According to sources'at the U.S, Environ- <br />mental Protection Agency, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Soil Conser- <br />vation Service, several different water quality planning efforts are <br />presently ongoing in the Upper Basin. The Bureau of Reclamation and Soil <br />Conservation Service are cooperating in the planning and imple- <br />mentation of the Colorado River Water Quality Improvement Program. <br />The Soil Conservation Service has completed one study report on <br />the Grand Valley Unit in Colorado. The Soil Conservation Service <br />is initiating other programs for irrigation source and diffuse <br />nonpoint source control of salts in the Lower Gunnison Basin Unit, <br />Colorado, and in the McElmo Creek Unit, Colorado. The Bureau of <br />Reclamation has initiated construction on the Paradox Valley Unit, <br />Colorado, and the Bureau of Reclamation will begin construction <br />on the Grand Valley Unit, Colorado, in 1979. Other units (Glen- <br />wood-Dotsero Springs and Meeker Dome) are still under study <br />(Strand, 1979). <br /> <br />Six 208 (areawide waste treatment management) draft plans for <br />designated areas in the Upper Basin have been submitted. Final <br />approval of these plans is expected in early 1979. Statewide 208 <br />draft plans for nondesignated areas in Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado <br />will be submitted in early 1979. <br /> <br />Other efforts related to water quality planning and resource <br />development are being carried out by various Federal agencies, no- <br />tably the Geological Survey, Department of Energy, Environmental <br />Protection Agency, and Water Resources Council. These plans are <br />too numerous to list here. 'In addition, State health departments <br />(or parallel agencies) are conducting water quality planning stud- <br />ies relating to their iStiuance of National Pollutant Discharge <br />Elimination System (NPDES) permits and to their other regulatory <br />and planning responsibilities. <br /> <br />GROUND WATER <br /> <br />Location and Extent <br /> <br />Ground water in the Upper Colorado River Region may be sufficiently <br />large to aid EET development. However" because the resource has been <br />used so little and because reconnaissance level investigations in many <br />parts of the Region have not been promising, relatively few test wells <br />have been drilled. Exceptions to this statement occur in the White and <br />Yampa ~iver basins in Colorado and the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico. <br /> <br />Price and Arnow (1974) provide an excellent overview of ground water <br />resources in the Region. The bibliography sr.o',!ld also be consulted for <br />references. The general impression, however, is that ultimate ground wa- <br />ter recoverability, water quality, and connectivity with surface supplies <br />throughout th" Region are conditions which are either unknown or poorly <br />understood. The available studies are generalized in the fOllowing para- <br />graphs by river subbasin. <br /> <br />3-23 <br />