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Used first paragraph of introduction as abstract: The Colorado River Basin includes 632 000 km2 in the Western United States and northern Mexico (figure 1). Although average unregulated discharge is only 500 to 600 m3/s [1], the river is an important source of water for more than 12 million people and approximately 1 million ha of irrigated agriculture [2]. Headwaters of the Colorado and its major tributaries, the Green and San Juan Rivers, lie in the high peaks of the Rocky Mountains, where precipitation averages 100 to 150 cm/a. Most of its course, however, crosses the semiarid Colorado Plateau and the Sonoran Desert, where average annual precipitation may be as low as 6 cm [1]. Many of the geologic formations...
The Colorado River is the lifeline for more than 17 million people in seven arid States and Mexico. The river, while nearly pure at its origins in the snowcapped Rocky Mountains, carries about 8 million megagrams (9 million tons) of mineral salts annually past Hoover Dam. The salt pollution damages irrigated crops, causes acceler�ated plumbing replacement and appliance wear, and causes annual damages of over $120 million. Projections are that without any controls, annual damages of over $238 million will occur by about 2010. The Department 0 f the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the Environmental Protection Agency are working with the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum members, State governments,...
The demise of a number of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations dependent on irrigation, as well as the abandonment 700 years ago of agricultural settlements in the American Southwest, have been traced to salt buildup, drought, and/or erosion. Even today, 550,000 acres (222,750 ha)of irrigated land are going out of production each year due to salt buildup in arid land regions of the world [1]. Cooperative planning by USDA with state and federal agencies has been underway since 1973 to reduce salinity problems in the Colorado River Basin. The experience gained in planning and implementing onfarm salinity control measures will prove valuable in other parts of the country--valuable enough to save dollars, time, farms,...
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