WSP08316

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Western Slope
• Date: 1/1/1976
• Author: Myron B Holburt
• Title: Annual Report for the Calendar Year 1975
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

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expects that more and more lands will
be covered in ensuing years.
The Bureau issued two contracts to
private engineering firms to prepare
"feasibility level" study reports on
salinity control measures for the Palo
Verde Irrigation District and the
Colorado River Indian Reservation in
Arizona. These two agricultural areas
are part of the 12 potential salinity
control projects, The contractor is to
determine the amount and sources of
salt loading, the possible reduction in
salt load, and the effectiveness of
proposed structural water system
improvement measures.

Discharge Permits-Agricultural
Return Flows

In 1974, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) issued
regulations requiring discharge permits
under NPDES from irrigated areas of
3,000 acres or more. The California
Regional Water Quality Control Board
approved NPDES permits in March
1975 for agricultural return flows for
Imperial and Palo Verde Irrigation
Districts and for Coachella Valley
County Water District. The permits
require that the districts monitor both
supply and drainage waters for
volume of flow, suspended solids, and
total dissolved solids. Similar permits
were issued by EPA for the Arizona
agricultural districts along the
Colorado River in April 1975.
The National Resources Defense
Council filed suit against Russell Train,
Administrator of EPA, challenging the
"under 3,000 acre" exception from
the permit requirements. The U.5.
District Court in Washington, D.C.,
ruled in favor of the National
Resources Defense Council, thereby
requiring EPA to draft new regulations
covering agricultural waste discharge
permits. EPA intends to issue new
regulations early in 1976.

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National Drinking Water Standards

The Safe Drinking Water Act, P.L.
93-532, was enacted in December
1974 and is the first federal act
dealing in depth with providing safe
drinking water for public use. The act
requires the EPA Administrator to
establish drinking water standards. On
March 14, 1975, EPA issued interim
primary drinking water standards.
Public hearings were held throughout
the country in April, and the interim
primary drinking water regulations
were published in the Federal Register
on December 24, 1975. The maximum
contaminant levels for inorganic
chemicals in the standards are the
same as those established in the 1962
U.5. Public Health Service
requirements for public carriers in
Interstate Commerce, except that
sulfates, chlorides, and total dissolved
solids, considered to be affecting
esthetic aspects only, are not included
in the EPA standards, which cover
only parameters that adversely affect
public health.

National Commission on Water
Quality

The National Commission on Water
Quality was established by P.L.
92-500, the Federal Water Pollution
Control Act Amendments of 1972, It
was charged to study all aspects of
achieving or not achieving the 1983
effluent limitation goals set forth in
P.L. 92-500. The Commission is
composed of 15 members, consisting
of five members of the Senate, five
members of the House, and five
public members appointed by the
President.
The Commission contracted with
Utah State University to conduct a
regional study of the Colorado River
as part of the Commission's directive
from Congress. An advisory
committee established to aid in the
study included the Board's Chief
Engineer. The Chief Engineer and the
Board's staff extended considerable
technical assistance to Utah State

University during the conduct of the
study, primarily in regard to the
University's efforts in developing the
data base for a computer model of
the river's water and salt flows and in
extensive review of drafts of the
University's report. The Commission
stated that it would use the University
study and other studies it had ordered
in sending its report to Congress early
in 1976.

Basin Developments

The Board's staff reviewed plans for
water and energy development
projects in the Colorado River Basin,
determined their effect on California's
Colorado River water rights and
interests, and attempted to obtain
changes where necessary. A trend
that appeared during 1975 was the
slowdown in the planned rate of
development of the Colorado River
Basin's coal and oil shale resources,
which will reduce projections of
future water use.

Upper Basin Developments

The staff reviewed the Bureau of
Reclamation's environmental impact
statement (EIS) for the Lyman
Projec~ which will develop water for
irrigation and municipal use in the
Lyman, Wyoming, area. In the Board's
review comments, it was stated that,
while the Board has no objections to
the project, the project should include
measures for optimizing farming
practices to reduce irrigation salt
pickup.
The EIS for the Jensen Unit of the
Central Utah Project was also
reviewed. The Jensen Unit will cause
a depletion of 15,000 acre-feet per
year, mostly for municipal and
industrial uses. In its comments on the
EIS, the Board stated that it had no
objections to the project and
suggested the inclusion of language to
clarify and to alert the reader to the
basin's salinity problems and
proposed salinity control measures.
Construction of the
Fryingpan-Arkansas transmountain