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Summary Thirty percent of construction costs for the onfarm portion and all OM&R will be paid by landowners. FUTURE-WITHOUT .PLAN CONDITION (NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE) The no action alternative is discussed in the document to identify future conditions in the Price-San Rafael Rivers area without either of the viable plans or other salinity control measures by USDA or Reclamation. The no action alternative provides a baseline for determining the effects of the viable plans. The primary difference between the estimated no action and current condi- tions in the project area is the result of water rights owned by Utah Power and Light Company (UP&L). UP&L on an average year owns 48,400 acre-feet of water, and at present is using about 35,000 acre-feet for cooling. Each year UP&L leases back to the irrigators about 13,400 acre-feet. If, in the future, UP&L constructs other power units, or if because of drought the company needs to use all of its water rights, there would not be water to lease to area landowners. Full exercise of UP&L water rights would cause an additional 3,630 acres of farmland to be retired from irrigation. This reduced acreage is used as the baseline for this study. Under no action conditions, onfarm irrigation efficiency is projected to improve slightly, with little or no change in the types of crops grown. Land retirement and related irrigation/salinity reductions are not expected to occur in the project area. BASIS FOR PLAN SELECTION The preferred plan was selected from the viable alternatives based on cost effectiveness, salt-load reduction, reasonable expectations for cost sharing or future development, and environmental considerations. Public Law 93-320, as amended, directs that plans will be evaluated using cost effectiveness. Under the criterion of cost effectiveness, those plans which would result in reduction of salinity in the Colorado River System at the least cost per ton would be given preference for implementation. The cost-effectiveness criterion used by Reclamation to evaluate and compare salinity measures is based on total annual costs and the resulting average annual salt-load reduction, expressed in dollars per ton. Both the criteria of cost effectiveness and maximizing salinity reduction were used to select Reclamation's preferred off-farm plan components, rather than only maximizing NED benefits. For plan comparison purposes in the report, the NED proposals of both Reclamation and SCS were described. 000431 S-9