Quality of Water Colorado River Basin Progress Report No. 25

The Colorado River and its tributaries provide water to about 35 – 40 million people and irrigation water to nearly 4.5 million acres of land in the United States (Moving Forward, 2015;). The river also serves about 3.3 million people and 500,000 acres in Mexico (Cohen, 2011). The effect of salinity is a major concern in both the United States and Mexico. Salinity damages in the United States are presently estimated to be about $382 million per year at 2014 salinity concentrations, which includes 1.3 million tons of implemented salinity controls. This biennial report on the quality of water in the Colorado River Basin is required by Public Laws 84-485, 87-483, and the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (Salinity Control Act) (Public Law 93-320, as amended by Public Laws 98-569, 104-20, 104-127, and 106-459).