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c' ~"'" 0) ...... -- exceed 15% of the total allocated to both funds. The 75% allocated to the Federal Government is based upon the policy embodied in P.L, 92-500, the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, for reimbursement of the costs of pollution con- trol features, and also recognizes the Federal responsibilities to control the river's sali.nity as a matter of international comity \~ith Mexico, Federal mmer'- ship of most of the lands from which originate most of the natural sources of salts, and Federal development of the major projects on the river. INITIAL SALINITY CONTROL PROJECTS The three projects to be authorized in the salinity control program and the fourth potential project (Las Vegas Wash), are now under investigation by the Bureau of Reclamation. A brief description of the projects follow. Paradox Valley, Colorado The Dolores River in southwestern Colorado crosses Paradox Valley and picks up over 200,000 tons a year of dissolved salts from an underlying salt dome. The salinity control project proposed for Paradox Valley would eliminate much of the salt pickup by drilling wells and pumping out the highly saline groundwater brine, thereby reducing the rising groundwater level to the extent that the brines will not mix with the flow of the river. These brines have a salinity of about 200,000 ppm and would be disposed by pumping to an evaporation pondo It is estimated that the river's salt load would be reduced by 180,000 tons annually as a result of the completion of this project, which would have a capital cost of approximately $11 million, and an annual operation and maintenance cost of $0.5 million. Grand Valley, Colorado Grand Valley, surrounding Grand Junction, Colorado, overlies a saline geo- logic formation containing highly soluble minerals. Precipitation and irrigation water, in percolating through the ground, picks up salt from this formation and, 10