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<br />'0 lands, farmers in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys have installed thousands of <br />,,~ <br />I-" 6 and 8 feet their fields. Through 1972, <br />00 miles of tile drains at depths of under <br />I-" <br />00 Imperial Valley farmers installed 17,834 miles of tile drains at a cost of $40.5 <br /> <br />million, 1,848 miles of ditches at a cost of $15.9 million, and the Imperial <br /> <br />Irrigation District provided master collection ditches. A portion of those <br /> <br />collection ditches have been lined at a cost of $10.3 million. The farmers are <br /> <br />continuing to add more tile drains at a rate of about ~,OOO miles a year. Coachell~ <br /> <br />Valley farmers, irrigating about 1/7 the acreage of Imperial Valley farmers, have <br /> <br />installed 1,900 miles through 1972 at a comparable cost. <br /> <br />In addition to these substantial investments in facilities to drain off the <br /> <br />highly saline waters percolating through the root zone, the tile drains require <br /> <br />regular cleaning on an interval of approximately 5 years, to remove salt deposits <br /> <br />and silt. Cleaning costs average about $600/mile. <br /> <br />Blending of Colorado RiveJ:'..I~at:!'.r. J:,?__Reduce Salinity <br /> <br />The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California imports over one <br /> <br />million acre-feet a year of Colorado River water into the Southern California <br /> <br />coastal plain, where over 10 million persons reside. Upon the 1972 completion <br /> <br />of the first stage of the California State Water Project, the District had availal:'4 <br /> <br />to it added quantities of Northern California water with about one-third the <br /> <br />salinity Of Colorado River water. In order to reduce the salinity of the water <br /> <br />delivered to its service area, the District recently announced a program involving <br /> <br />oignificant expenditures by the District which would allow distribution of a 50-50 <br /> <br />blend of the two waters to 75 percent of its service area. <br /> <br />Allied Programs <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation is also studying long range allied programs which, <br /> <br />.'.f successful, could result in reducing the salinity of the :t;iver. These measures <br /> <br />include desA.lting, 'VJ'e8.ther lllod1.fication, geothermal resources, operation and <br /> <br />17 <br />