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Show CHAPTER XIV COLORADO RIVER BASIN SALINITY CONTROL ACT A. Background Following adoption of Minute No. 242, dated August 30, 1973, legislation was proposed to implement it. The Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources of the House of Representatives held hearings on March 4, 5, and 8, 1974, to consider several bills (Serial No. 93-45). The bills were H.R. 12165 and H.R.7774, which were initiated in the Committee, and H.R. 12834, which was the Administration Bill. B. Administration Bill This bill, cited as the "International Salinity Control Project, Colorado River," proposed only those "...measures necessary to carry out the provisions of Minute No. 242...." It authorized the Secretary of State, through the Commissioner of the United States Section, IBWC, who shall consult with the Secretary of the Interior and may delegate such authority to the Secretary of Agriculture, the Army, the Interior, and the Administrator of the EPA, to: (1) Construct, operate, and maintain a desalting complex and an extension of the bypass drain for the discharge of the reject stream from the plant and other Wellton-Mohawk drain water to the Santa Clara Slough. (2) Accelerate cooperative management programs with the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District for the purpose of reducing saline drainage flows by improving irrigation efficiency, with the District to pay its share of the costs. (3) Acquire approximately 10,000 acres of lands within the Wellton-Mohawk Division to reduce the 75,000 irrigable acres authorized by the Gila Reauthorization Act and to acquire additional acreage as may be deemed appropriate. (4) Assist water users in the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District in installing onfarm systems as a means of reducing saline drainage return flows through improved irrigation efficiencies. (5) In consideration of the purchase of irrigable lands and the associated increased cost of operation ana maintenance of the irrigation system of the District, appropriately reduce repayment obligations of the District to the United States under existing contracts. (6) Contract with Coachella Valley Water District to provide for reimbursement by the United States for its use of the water saved through the rehabilitation and betterment of the Coachella Canal as a temporary source of water for meeting the obligations of Minute No. 242. (7) In consideration of the capacity to be relinquished in the Ail-American and Coachella Canals as a result of the rehabilitation and betterment of the Coachella Canal, appropriately reduce repayment obligations of the Imperial Irrigation District to the United States under existing contracts. (8) For the purpose of the rehabilitation and betterment of the Coachella Canal, acquire lands within the Imperial Irrigation District on the Imperial East Mesa which receive or have been granted rights to receive water from the Imperial Irrigation District's capacity in the Coachella Canal and to dispose of such lands. (9) Acquire lands in Painted Rock Reservoir needed to operate the project in accordance with obligations of Minute No. 242. Section 3 provided that replacement of the reject stream from the desalting plant and of any Wellton-Mohawk drainage water resulting from essential operations bypassed to the Santa Clara Slough, except when there are surplus waters of the Colorado River under the 1944 Treaty, is recognized as a National obligation as provided in Section 202 of the Colorado River Basin Project Act. It also provided that studies to identify feasible measures to provide adequate replacement water be completed by June 30, 1980 (see Appendix 1401 for text of this bill). 223 |
