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<br />THIRD. Programs that reduce the agricultural consumption <br /> <br />W of w,:!.ter on the Western Slope of Colorado may have a deli terious <br />W <br /><:> affect ,on other Western Slope users. The senior water <br />c.v <br />rights of irrigators in the Grand Valley presently controls <br />the mainstem of the Colorado during periods when the River <br />must be administered. A significant reduction in the Grand <br />Valley irrigator's water ~eeds will result in a net inorease <br /> <br />in diversions to the East Slope making salinity control even <br />more difficult and expensive. <br /> <br />FOURTH. The River District has been informed by the <br />Department of Interior that the salinity control program <br />does not fully allow for upper basin states to develop the <br /> <br />water allocated to them under the 1922 and 1948 compacts. <br />In a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission <br />dated August 25,1981, commenting on data being collected <br /> <br />for a proposed reservoir in Western COlorado, the Regional <br /> <br />Solici tor. for the Rocky Mountain Region stated: <br /> <br />"Increasing salinity concentrations result from <br /> <br />two basic and separable processes: (1) salt <br /> <br />loading, by adding new tonnages of salt to the <br />existing load of the stream; and (2) salt concen- <br />trating, by reducing the volume of water whereby <br />the salt load is diluted in a smaller volume of <br /> <br />14 <br />