Salinity Update, April 1982

Salinity Update

~

Reconmended Plan

Selecled

A 100011 mended plan lor feasibility study has been selected for the GlenwoocHlotsero Springs Unit of lhe Colorado Riller Water Quality ~ m e n t

Program.

The plan is expedl!d to

decrease

the salt loading to the

Colorado

AM!< by

an averageof 314,00l tons annually. The saline springs

are

located in weslem Colorado, in Garliekl and Eagle

Coooties.

and lie in

a narrow

stnp in Glenwood canyon along the

Colorado Rr.ier

belween the town of Glenwood Springs and the Lllinoorpo,ated community of Ootsero.

GlenwocxHJotsero Springs constitute lhe second largest point source of salinity to the

Colorado

Riller. The combined discharges annually oontribute approximalely 25,00l

~teet

of water conta,mng 440,00l tons of salt, about half of which

comes

from 18

identified

springs.

The

recommerided plan, called 'West

Salt

Oeel<-

DG:

would consist of collecting brine from Glenwood and

Dotsero Springs

and piping the brine to contour ponds for disposal near West

Salt Creek

on the Colorado-Utah border. The collection

sysen

would capture a tocal of about

21.4

els

(cuboc feet per second) of brine from sp<ing

su1ace

flows and

some subsurface

brine in the alluvium adjaoent to the Springs at both

Glenwood

and Dotsero

.

The pipeline would be 131 miles long and would consist of steel cylinder pressure pipe, prolected inside and outside by a layer of 00t 1C1ele.

Ele\len pressut&-t'educing stations

would be required along the pipeline route. The pipeline would cany 7.1

els flow from

U.S

. Deparlment

of

the

lnletior

&nalJ

of Redall8tlon

A

Ouarterty

Report on

the

Colorado River Wa«

Qualty

l111p,vveme1 d Prog,an

April 1962

.,.

•

•

~ 51

-1•

-...

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....

.,

Ootsero to Glenwood Springs. Al Glenwood Springs, another 143

els

would be added to the pipeline flow for transport to the evaporation site at the Colorado-Utah S1ale line

near

Mack

,

Colorado

.

The

con

lour ponds would consist of a

senes

of

small

lakes desq',ed to retain the bnne behind compacted earthen dikes which would conform

to eicisting topography

. After clearing the site, the Mancos shale-demed soils

will

be

scarified

and moistened, wi1h

a

layer recompacted to actlieve

seepage

control.

The

lakes would be about 400 feel to

more

than 00:lfeetwide, varying in depth up to 20 feet, and in

some

instances

o...er

a

mile long. The surtaoe

area

of the lakes would be

o...er

5,00l

acres

,

and the lakes' collective storage volume would hold influent brine and salt for 100 years, if needed. The oontour

WEST SALT CREEK - OG

more

beneficial

use

is de!.

e

I J1)ed by private or public entities.

It has been repeatedly stressed that if and

when 'a

more

benef,cial

user

for the brine

co.1•1its himself. then the

rec:x>nvnended

plan would automatically become the plan for the more beneficial

use

.

Opportunities for

lhe following

uses

of the brine have been

"brainslonned": recreation, indusby, salt

waier fishefy, microalgae production, coal sllMl'Y pipeline, coal capsule p,petine, oil shale tailings .eco, 11pactlon,

m

Kl Chemtt:a1

reoovery.

Despite acti\13 promotion for such

uses.

no developer has

come

fofward with

definite

commitments yet.

A multi<f1SCiptina,y planning team, a p.ctess'o11al services contractor, and the

general public are assisting the Bureau of

Reclamation in the planning study.Technical

work during

Phase

I of the omiestigations

was

conducted by URS Corporation of Denver and

concluded

with

sele

DOOi

I

of

the

1eoonvne11ded plan for feasibility study in

early calendar year

1982.

Phase

II

technical

work will ir,clude preparat,on

of

feasibility lellel designs and estimates and other data collection activities which include data for an enwoomental statement

Dumg prer.mina,ystudies, several methods

of

disposing or treating the saline water were 0011sid01ed which included storage ponds, deep

well

injection, plugging or grouting of

the springs, desalination, industrial

use,

cherrical prooessing of the brine, and stockpiling of solids in a d,y basin.

From these general co, ,cepls, 33 appraisal-lellel alternatives

were

9"'

""ated.

The public

rENiewed

lhe altema!M3s and

offered

<X>11 "'"" ,ts and suggestio, is. Based on public

input and technical and economic

co

!Slde,ations,

five

candidate plans were

chooon from which the reCOIMlended plan lor feasibility study

was

selecied.

- ~

,,

.

,

Iii

BRINE RESOURCE LAKES(EIIAP.)

• COLLECTION WEU..S

• SURFACE SPRING CO&.UCTION

Reclamation

,

NASA Cooperate

Assessment of saline water

use

in ooal transpJrt and multi-putpOSe systems is the

subject of a reimbursable agreement recently

negotiated wi1h

NASA

(National Aeronautics

and Space Administration). The six-month study will be conducted by NASA's JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) in

Pasadena.

Calilomia.

The agreement will provide for the ,:qrticipatioo of the

NA$Al,JPt

in the

performance

of an appraisal-level systems analysis to identify major technicaV design/operational op6ons, issues, and

problem areas. It will also evaluate the

economic feasibilrty

of joint

venture

transport

and

use

systems. The analysis will be used to

formulate a plan of study that will evaluate the

leasibility of saline

water

transport systems ,n

the Co4orado River Basin for salinity control.

Initiation of Dirty DeYII River Unit

The formal Notice of lmiation of

Investigations

was

issued Februaty 1, 1982.

although basic data collection began in

1973,

when

a

number of water measurement and

sampling stations

were

established. The study is concerned primarily with identifying the salt loading mechanisms and possible means of controlling and reducing

the salt contribution to the

Colorado

Rnier

system from the Dirty Devil Rr;er. The

Durango

Projects Office will conduct the

study under current Department onstructions, pohcoes, and guidelines.

Prospective solutions could involve plans

lor selective withdrawal, collection and asposal, irrigation wate( system

improvements, industrial

uses

of the saline

water, or possibly some desalting methods.

The scheduled date for comptetion of the feasibility report is fiscal )'9dJ' 1987.

Salinity

Contraciol

Wins

Excellence Award

Salinity lf1\'9Sligetion of the

Glenwood-Ootsero Springs Unit wins first prize in the

Consulting Engineers Council of Colorado

Engineering Excellence Awards of

1982.

URS Corporation

was

presented the award

in Catego,y A Research and Consulting Engineering $eMce&--at a ceremony on Februa,y 23, 1982. in Denver, Colorado.

Reclamation

was

rep,esented at the ceremony by

Donn

Pease of Grand

Junction, Diana Lab ol

Salt

Lake

City,

and Michael Bessler

ol Denver.

The awards

program

was

initiated in 1968to recognize

those

engineering achie'.emeuts demonstrating the highest degree of merit and ingenuity, and providing a major contribution to tecmical, economical. or social advancement URS Corporation's

ent,y will be

coo !Sideoed

in the national

oompet1bon.

-Concluding

Repol1

Released-LaVer1dn

Springs

The conduding report prepared by the

Bureau of Reclamalion on the LaVert<in

Springs I.Klit has been released. The project

has the support ol lhe local communities and is environmentally feasible. It would

effectively reduce the salinity of the Colorado

River. howeve<, at a unit cost of $1,480.IXX> per mg/L of salinity reduction, it is not

considered cost-effective when compared to

other potential salinity control projec1s in the

Colorado River Basin. Therefore, the project is not recommended

for

construction

at

this

time.

USDA

New Personnel

Gordell Brown is the

new

director

of

the

ConsetVation and Environmental Protec6on Division of ASCS (Agricultural Stabilization and ConsetVation SeMce). He is the principle liaison with

ASCS

cost-share program for salinity control in the Colorado

River Basin at the national level. Gordel is originally from

Utah

and has recently seM!d

as

the State

Executive

Director for

Utah

ASCS. Gordell raises hay, grain, and beef,

and therefore is famliar wi1h farmers' problems.

Redamation

Budget Requests

Theam<ll#'lts included in the fiscal year 1963budgetsubmitted totheCongressforT!tle II of Pltllic Law 93-320

are

shown in comparison to the amounts in the fiscal year 1982

lxJdgel.

Construction:

Grand Valley Unit

Las

Vegas

Wash Unit

Paradox Valley Unit Total

General

irwestigations:

Plan

Formulation Engineering &

Research Center

Lower

Colorado

Region

Upper Colorado Region

FY

1982 $ 8,809,()()() 151,537

2.286.996

$11.247

.533

921,t93

242.365

4,166,()()()

FY

1983

S

8,902,()()() 973,()()() 6,401,()()() $16,276,()()() 795,000 175.000 4,808.000 Total

S 5,328.558

5,778,000 Mvaoce Planning·

S

300,000

• lndudes Lower Gunnison Basin, McElmo

Creek.

Uinta Basin, Palo Verde Irrigation

Districl.

Sarine

Water

Use and Oisposal Opportooities-Units

USDA Budget

Requests

The USDA

has

released p,oposed budget

figures

lo< FY 1983. They

are shown

in comparison

to

FY 1982 fi~resattesting to the CU1 USOA

has

had in most

of

their agencies'

programs.

Soil Conservation Setvioe (SCSJ

Technical assistance

Riwlr

basin studies

Agrirullural Stabilization

and Conservation Service (ASCS)

Cost

share practioes

AgriculnnJ Research

SeMce (ARS)

Cooperative State

Research

SeMce

(CS-RS)

Exlensm

Service

(ES)

Price-San Rafael Rivers Unit

Activities

to

verify the salt loading mecharism in the Price-San Rafael Rivers Um

area

will begin

ear1y in

April. The

contractor, by

that

time. wiH have completed

the

Problem

Identification and Quantification

Aepor1. which presents the teSUlts of

their

swdy.

FY

1982

FY

1983 $ 516,()()() $500,()()() 269,000

0

$3.700,()()() 850,000 336,()()() 936,000 161.()()()

0

250.000

0

Lower Gunnison

Basin

Reclamation and the Soil Conservation

Setvioe are exploring the poteotial of having

the USDA Extenslon Service assist with onlarm activities and water conservation.

A phase I

test

section lo< a membrane lining

in a canal has been

set

aside lo< study in the

lower Gunnison Basin.

U

S

DA Virg

i

n

Val

le

y

Area Report

Completed

USDA has

j

ust

compjeled the second part

of

the Virgin Riversal,nrty control study

of

the

Virgin Valley in

Arizona,

Nevada, and Utah. The first part

was

Moapa Valley

Subevaluation Um in Nevada published in February 1981. This second report, "Salinity

Control and Environmental

Assessment.

Virgin Valley Subevaluation Unit (NV-AZ)"

was

published in

March

1982. The study identifies atternatiYe solutions for reducing

salt loadings to the Colorado River from

irrigated agriculture and other diffuse saH

sources.

The Virgin R~ originates in Utah and

flows

through

Arizona

and Nevada

enroute

to

Lal<e

Mead on the Colorado River.

Irrigated agriculttKe in the subevaluation

area

totals 4,600

acres,

wtth 3,500

acres

irrigated by surface methods and 1,100acres

irrigated by

more

efficient sprinkler and drip methOds. Virgin

River

average annual salt load contributions

are

426,000 tons.

Implementation

of

the recommended plan

for this area can reduce satt loadings by

37.200 tons amually. The reductions wil

come

from:

1. An improved 6.4 miles of irrigated canal

delivery system (6.!0l tons)

2.

3,500

acres

of

onlarm irrigation water

management improvements increasing efficiencies from44 to62 percent (3),300

tons)

3. Minor sediment reductions from irrigation management (100 tons).

Implementation win focus on semi-automated onlarm irrigation

systems

at $1,937,000 construction

costs

,

improved canal delivery systems at $733,CXXJ, and technical assistance in the amount

ol

$430,000. The tOlal OOSlSof $3,100,CXXJwoulc:t be

over

a 10-year implementation period. Based on a 4 mglL reduction in salinity

concentration at Imperial Dam, downstream

annual benefits

wil

total

$2,002,400

,

with

onfann benefits total,ng $119,800 per

year.

Copies of the publ'IShed report are available through the

USDA.

Soil Conservation

Selllice,

P.O. Box 4850, 50 South Virginia

Nick

Mezei-Glen-Dot Team

Leader

Nick

Mezei

is the planning engineer in

charge of the Glenwooc:H)ocsero Springs

Unrl In this capacity, he direc:ls the planning

learn and subteam meetings. coordinates

plaMing

activities,

directs the public

lllYOl>Ernent program, and prollides

ooordinalion

with the COntraclO<.

UTAH

Nick, who immigrated to America from

~ u a f e d

!rOm

me

--:-:

--;

r--

~:;::-;~==

~ Institute of Technology m 1971 with a B.S. degree in civil engineering. While wor1<ing

lot

a consulting firm and later for a

New Jer.;ey township, he wor1<ed on his M.S.

degree which he received in 1975. Nick

began his employment with Aedamation in

1978

as

a planning engineer

at the

Grand Junction Projects Office.

In his leisure time Nick enjoys gardening, pho!Ography. and spending time with his

family.

GlcWld Valey Unit

The laterals that

are

under oonstruction in

the Slage

01e

area

(about 40 percent of the

Stage

01e

area)

are

scheduled

lot

completion by April 1. There is some conoem

lhey may not be finished until May 1.

Reclamation is wod<ing with the water users to minmize the effects if the laterals are not

compleled on schedule.

Also in the Grand Valley

area.

advertisemec

,ts for bids have been made for

the water screens, automatic radial gate

checl<s.

and raising and covering the

rneasinment wells. Fleclamabon also has

been working with the water use,s to remove

delicie, ICies associated with the

recenijy

constructed canal lining; i.e., lowering the lips

on

the oonstant head

orifooes

.

e

r••

s.lnft'r Conbol ..._ 0 ... this

AulhorindtarC---Legislation

Introduced t

o

Clean

up

Colorado

River

Senator

William L. Arn ISIJoug, and 14

co-sponsors from the seven

Colorado

River Basin

states

,

introduced

a

bill

March 15,

1962,

to clean up the Colorado

RM<

.

The proposed legislation (S.2202) will amend

PIJblic Law 93-320and

was_..,ped

by the

Colorado

River Basin Salinity Control Forum.

The bill has four objectr.les:

-To authorize six new salinity control units

(each to be constructed within the 1974

Salirity Control Act's spending r.mits)- three

in Colorado: Sinbad Valley in Mesa County

(BLM proposal). Lower Gmnison Basin near

Mo

1bose, and Mc8mo Creek in Montezuma

County. Also authorized would be

one

unit in

Utah, the Uinta Basin; and one unit in

Galilomia, the Palo Verde Irrigation District;

and

one

unit would authorize the Interior

...,

__

_

Department to

W0<1<

on new technologies for

using or disposing of saline water.

-To improve the large network of canal

and lateral systems, with all costs but

pollution reduction to be funded by the

water-users who benefit

- To replace wildlofeorotherenvironmental benefits which may be impaired when the

above projects

are

oonstructed; for example,

perform remedial work on

neart>y

wildlife

habitats. which may diy up when canals

are

lined to prevent

seepage

into saline soils. -To authorize

a

\dunlaJy on

farm

program

to

improve water management and

conservation efforts. wt.le reducing soil

erosion.

The legislation has been endorsed by the seven Colorado Rr,er Basin governors and

tentatively approved by the Reagan Administration.

Col

o

rad

o

River Wate

r

Quality Improvement Program Schedule

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·---Decisions

Hasten

Construction

in

Paradox Valley

Recent decisions

regarding the deep well

injection tests will hasten completion of the Paradox Valley Unit construclion.

The original plan of supple,,

e

rting the

envi1011meutaJ

i

mpact

sta!eue1t

i:s not

considered

necessary.

The i ~

are

consicle,ed insignificant; thetefore,

an

erwirormental assessment wil be prepared

wilh

a

Finding of No SjgnificMt Impact

(FONSI) expected. The review and

p,o ·

,g

time saved win be at least 6 to 8 mooths.

The preparation of the specifications for

dnllong and the P"ll)aration and

state

awovaJ

of

the injection permit

are

neoessa,y before

the

drilling begins.

After

the 1eSt wells

are

drilled and tested.

....

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-Reclamation will prepare a supplement to the

Definite Plan Report showing the costs and

locations of the necessary wells, along with

other infoonation required in the

DPR

suppleme,

,t.

Construction of the injection wells is

expected to begin in N!bruary 1963.

For questions concerning projects

discussed in this newletter. please

contact the Public Affairs Office in the

Region responsible for that project. Bureau of Reclamation

Upper Colorado Regional Office

P.O. Box 11568

Salt

Lake City, Utah

Telephone: Commercial: 84147 FTS 588-5403 801-524-5403

-Bureau of Reclamation

Lower Colorado Regional Office

P.O. Box 427

89005 Boulder City, Nevada Telephone:

Commercial:

FTS 598-7 420

702-293-8420

For answers to general questions or

items you would like to see included in

SALINITY UPDATE. write to:

Editor, SALINITY UPDATE. D-1000

Colorado River Water Quality Office

Bureau of Reclamatton

P.O. Box 25007 Denver Federal Center Denver. Colorado 80225 Telephone: Commercial: FTS 234-4180 303-234-4180 PN1o<