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of no-salt return whenever practicable, as well as a program which parallels USBR and USDA efforts and which is funded from the Basin states' funds. C t<) c.;1 Forum's NPDES Policies OJ In 1977, the Forum adopted its "Policy for Implementation of Colorado River Salinity Standards Through the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit Program." This policy provides guidance for the regulation of municipal and industrial point source discharges of saline water. In 1980, the Forum adopted a policy to encourage the use of brackish and/or saline waters for industrial purposes where it is environmentally sound, and economically feasible. A third policy dealing with intercepted ground water was adopted by the Forum in 1982. In 1988, the Forum adopted a fourth policy which addresses the salinity of water discharges from fish hatcheries. Important components of the Plan of Implementation for salinity control are the Basin states' activities associated with the control of total dissolved solids through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit program, and the water quality management plans. As previously indicated, the Forum approved needed changes to its NPDES policies on Qctober 30, 2002. The original policy allowed for a waiver to be granted by the permitting agency if the proposed discharge of water contained less than a ton of salt per day. In recent years, concern has been expressed where new development of resources, most likely in the energy industry, could result in many point discharges that would total much more than a ton a day but would not total more than a ton at anyone discharge point. An example of this type of development is the growing coal bed methane industry where in discreet areas hundreds of wells are proposed. The Forum created a Policy Committee and that committee presented to the Forum on June 5, 2002 proposed policy changes. After undergoing public review, various revisions were made to the policy by the committee. The Forum accepted the committee's report and approved the policy on NPDES discharges at its Qctober 30, 2002 meeting. The newly adopted policy is included in Appendix B. Each of the states has adopted the Forum policies presented in Appendix B. A listing of the NPDES permits in force within the Colorado River Basin are presented in Appendix C. During the period of this review, the status of implementation of the NPDES permits and the water quality management plans in each of the states is as follows: Arizona NPDES Permits The NPDES Program is currently administered by the EP A in Arizona, however, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has submitted a program primacy package to EP A Region IX and anticipates receiving the program delegation on July I, 2002. Until full program delegation, the permitting workload is shared between the two agencies, each drafting permits which are then issued by EP A. EP A is responsible for issuance of all permits on tribal lands, including the Navajo Nation, 4-15 }".