20 Years at Paradox

Written by: Marlon Duke

Paradox Valley Unit 20 Year Anniversary October 2016 marked 20 years since Reclamation’s Paradox Valley Salinity Control Facility began operation near Bedrock, Colo. Located along the Dolores River, which is a major tributary to the Colorado River, the Paradox Valley Unit helps prevent the valley’s naturally-high salt load from entering the river system. It captures salt brine using shallow wells along the river and then injects that brine into geologic formations about three miles beneath the valley floor.

The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum marked the Unit’s 20th anniversary with a tour of the facility and plaque commemorating the outstanding work of Reclamation employees to continue its successful operation.

The Paradox Valley Unit began as a research and development project for Reclamation. The agency hadn’t done anything quite like it before. In fact, it remains unique across Reclamation today as it continues to remove approximately 110,000 tons of salt from the river system each year. That represents about 10 percent of the total salt captured through the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program. Since it began operating in 1996, the Unit has reduced salt load in the valley by approximately 75 percent—from about 200,000 tons per year to less than 50,000 tons per year.

During its 20 years of operation, the Paradox Valley Unit has captured and disposed of 2.2 million total tons of salt. At around $70 per ton disposed, it is a cost-effective and efficient resource for the basin. It provides an enormous economic and environmental benefit downstream, in terms of agricultural irrigation, municipal use and protection of water quality throughout the river ecosystem.

While the Salinity Control Forum celebrated the Paradox Valley Unit’s 20th anniversary, it also recognized the need for a replacement alternative as the initial brine injection well nears the end of useful life. Aging infrastructure at the facility means growing maintenance costs to ensure ongoing safe operation. Reclamation is completing an environmental impact statement to identify and evaluate brine disposal alternatives to replace or supplement the initial injection well.

While we celebrate this 20-year milestone in the Paradox Valley, we can look forward with confidence to the next phase of salinity reduction there and another successful 20 years and more.

Published on October 24, 2016