Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide municipal and industrial water to about 27 million people and irrigation water to nearly four million acres of land in the United States. The river also serves about 2.3 million people and 500,000 acres in Mexico. The threat of salinity is a major concern in both the United States and Mexico. Salinity affects agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users.

In June 1974, Congress enacted the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act, Public Law 93-320, which directed the Secretary of the Interior to proceed with a program to enhance and protect the quality of water available in the Colorado River for use in the United States and Republic of Mexico. In October 1984, Congress amended the original act by passing Public Law 98-569.

Public Law 104-20 of July 28, 1995, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, to implement a basinwide salinity control program. The Secretary may carry out the purposes of this legislation directly, or make grants, enter into contracts, memoranda of agreement, commitments for grants, cooperative agreements, or advances of funds to non-federal entities under such terms and conditions as the Secretary may require.

Significant salinity control results from the implementation of measures on private agricultural lands. Reclamation's Basin States Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Incentives Program provide cost share assistance to landowners who install salinity control measures. See chapter 1 and chapter 5 of the Quality of Water Reports in the Related Information tab below.

Salinity Control Program In-Depth

Related Projects & Facilities

Related Links

Basinwide Salinity Control Program Funding Opportunity Announcement

2019 Funding Opportunity Announcement BOR-UC-20-F001

The 2019 Funding Opportunity is currently open and accepting applications thru September 20, 2019.

Reclamation’s Upper Colorado Region is requesting applicants visit the grants.gov website to view the posted grant opportunity and submit their applications at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=316619

If you have any questions during this announcement process, please contact the appropriate local Technical Contact.

Contacts

Reclamation Regional Office Coordinators

Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program Coordinator:
Mr. Brad Parry
125 South State Street, Room 8100
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
801-524-3723
bjparry@usbr.gov

Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program Specialist:
Ms. Marcie Bainson
125 South State Street, Room 8100
Salt Lake City, UT 84138
801-524-3747
mbainson@usbr.gov

Reclamation Technical Contacts and Area Office Coordinators

Colorado River Basin in Colorado and New Mexico Including San Juan River and Dolores River Basins:
Mr. Andrew Limbach
Western Colorado Area Office
445 W. Gunnison Avenue, Ste 221
Grand Junction, CO 81506
970-248-0644
alimbach@usbr.gov

Colorado River Basin in Utah and Wyoming:
Mr. Ben Radcliffe
Provo Area Office
302 East 1860 South
Provo, UT 84606-7317
801-379-1213
bradcliffe@usbr.gov

COLORADO RIVER BASIN SALINITY CONTROL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Title II of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (Public Law 93-320) created the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, and Section 204 of the Act created the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Advisory Council. The Council consists of up to three members from each of the seven Colorado River Basin States. Governors of their respective states appoint the Council members. The Council:

  1. Acts as liaison between both the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and the States in accomplishing the purposes of the Act;
  2. receives reports from the Secretary on the progress of the salinity control program and review and comment on said reports;
  3. recommends to both the Secretary and the Administrator of the EPA appropriate studies of further projects, techniques, or methods for accomplishing the purposes of the Act; and
  4. provides to the Secretary of the Interior advice and consultation regarding implementation of the Basin States Program to carry out salinity control activities.

This is accomplished by the Council meeting with the Federal agencies two times a year and providing an Annual Report to the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture and the Administrator of the EPA.

Council Meeting Minutes

Council Annual Reports

National Environmental Policy Act & Habitat Replacement

Below are some entities that could potentially be helpful or informative resources with the habitat replacement component of salinity projects. Local city and county governments, as well as local state and federal land management agencies, could be contacted for potential ideas/projects.

Delta Conservation District
District Manager, Suzie Bilberry
deltaconservationd@gmail.com
970-399-8194

Trout Unlimited
Project Manager, Cary Denison
cdenison@tu.org
970-596-3291

Western Slope Conservation Center
Watershed Coordinator, Jake Hartter
jake@theconservationcenter.org
970-527-5307 ext. 208

Rivers Edge West
Associate Director, Shannon Wadas
Swadas@riversedgewest.org
Executive Director, Rusty Lloyd
Rlloyd@riversedgewest.org
970-256-7400

Last Updated: 8/21/19