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. c;, ..J control measures and with continued Upper Basin development, the average salinity ~. ~ - at Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, would increase from the present average of around 730 ppm to around 1,000 ppm by the year 2000. The salinity at Lake Mead approxi- mates that at Lake Havasu, downstream from Lake Mead, ,qhere The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California diverts for use on the coastal plain of Southern California and where the Central Arizona Project, now under construction, will also divert. Further do\qnstream, at Imperial Dam, where the bulk of diversions are made for agricultural use in California and Arizona, the comparable values are 860 ppm at present and over 1,200 ppm by the turn of the century if there are no salinity control measures. It should be noted that the above values are annual averages and that higher seasonal values will occur. Past Studies of Colorado River Salinity Salinity studies in the Colorado River commenced as a result of the require- ment in the 1956 legislation authorizing the Colorado River Storage Project, which directed the Secretary of the Interior to report periodically on Colorado River water quality. Since then, the United States Bureau of Reclamation has issued six biennial reports covering sources of salinity, data on salinity and flows at different points in the basin, and estimating the impact of Federal water develop- ment projects on dmmstream salinity. The former Federal Water Quality Administration commenced Colorado River salinity studies in the early 1960's that were directed towards finding a solution. to the salinity problems. However, as the agency was involved in a.series of re- organizations wherein it eventually became part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the report on its studies was delayed until its release in 1971 as "The Mineral Quality Problem in the Colorado River Basin". The Colorado River Board of California closely monitored the Federal studies. 3