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CIIAPI'ER 4 - PLAN OF IMPLEMENTATION-FEDERAL PROGRAMS c..:l CD 0'> ~ INTRODUcnON Title n of P .L. 93-320 directed the Secretary of the Interior to expedite the investigation, planning and implementation of the salinity control program. The program objective is to treat salinity as a basin-wide problem in order to maintain salinity concentrations at or below 1972 levels in the lower main stem of the river while the Basin states continued to develop their compact-apportioned waters. Specifically, the Act authorized the construction, operation and maintenance of four salinity control projects (paradox Valley, Grand Valley, Las Vegas Wash and Crystal Geyser units) and the expeditious completion of planning reports for 12 other projects. It also required cost-sharing by non-federal entities. The Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture and Administrator of the EP A were directed to cooperate and coordinate their activities to meet the program objectives. P.L. 98-569, signed into law on October 30, 1984, amends P.L. 93-320. This law amended the original salinity control program by authorizing construction of additional units by Reclamation and de-authorizing Crystal Geyser because of poor cost effectiveness. The Secretary of Agriculture was directed to establish a major voluntary onfarm cooperative salinity control program. The authorizing legislation provides for cost-sharing and technical assistance to participants for planning and installing needed salinity reduction practices, including voluntary replacement of incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. Participants pay at least 30 percent of the costs to install salinity reduction and wildlife habitat practices. P.L. 98-569 also directed that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) develop a comprehensive program for minimizing salt contributions from the 48 million acres of Basin lands which it administers. RECOMMENDED PLAN Salinitv Control Plan of Implementation The involved federal agencies, working in close cooperation with the Forum, have identified potentially cost-effective, viable salinity control units and efforts that will be implemented over the next two to three decades. The collective efforts of Reclamation, the USDA, and the BLM are identified and summarized in Table 4.1. The location of the salinity control units are illustrated in Figure 4.1. Table 4.1, and the states' efforts identified in Chapter 5, are collectively the plan of implementation adopted by the Forum in this 1993 Review. The Federal portion of the plan (Table 4.1) would remove 1,375,400 tons of salt by the year 2015; when the units and efforts identified in the federal portion of the plan are fully implemented, 1,455,700 tons of salt would be removed. It should be recognized that over time, some of the salinity control units now in the implementation plan might not remove all of the projected salt or the costs may increase, and other units andlor salinity control measures will have to be substituted in order to maintain the numeric criteria while the Basin states continue to develop their compact-apportioned waters. 4-1