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SUMMARY o N ~ --.1 This report is a review ofthe water quality standards for salinity for the Colorado River. It summarizes the Colorado River salinity control program and its proposed Plan of Implementation for continued salinity control. Economic damages due to elevated salinity levels have been signi1icantlyreduced through this program at very modest costs. In Arizona, California, and Nevada, economic damages have been reduced by $300 million per year, accomplished at a federal funding level of less than $20 million per year. The Salinity Control Program is a unique cooperative . watershed effort between several federal agencies and seven states designed to meet national, international and state water quality objectives. Section 303 of the Clean Water Act requires that water quality standards be reviewed from time to time, but at least once during each three-year period. Accordingly, the seven-state Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum (Forum) has reviewed the existing state-adopted and Enviromnental Protection Agency (EP A)-approved water quality standards for salinity consisting of nmneric criteria and a Plan of Implementation for salinity control for the Colorado River System. Since the issuance of the 1999 Review, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has continued work on developing a new model to analyze the Colorado River System, including salinity. The model development is not yet completed, however, upon prior Review projections and current estimates by Reclamation, salinity control needs through 2020 are described herein. This 2002 Review updates funding and needed salinity control measures to be implemented. The Forum's recommendations are to be submitted to each of the Basin states for consideration at a public hearing prior to adoption. The Forum recommends no change in the numeric salinity criteria at the three stations located on the lower mainstem of the Colorado River. The numeric criteria at these stations will remain: Station Salinity in mfIL [ Below Hoover Dam Below Parker Dam At Imperial Dam 723 747 879 . The Plan of Implementation as set forth in this 2002 Review is designed to meet the objective of maintaining the salinity concentrations at or below the numeric criteria while the Basin states continue to develop their compact-apportioned waters. The plan is based on maintaining the numeric criteria under a long-term mean water supply of 15 million acre-feet annually at Lee Ferry, the Compact Point. The Forum recommends that the Plan of Implementation described in this report [Plow-weighted average annual salinity. v