Water study bill has pluses and minuses for Colo. River states (Special to the Vernal Express) By Helene C. Monberi; Washington The omnibus feasibility study bill which passed the Senate Wednesday night authorizing a study of some 35 water projects contains a number of pluses and minuses for the Colorado River Basin States. The bill is an amalgamation of eight water study bills and other water legislation. Pluses for the Upper Basin states, notably Colorado and Utah: .An amendment added by Sen. William L. Armstrong, R-Colo., authorizing ten feasibility studies in the Colorado River on reducing salinity in the river at ten places, including four in Colorado, four in Utah, one in Wyoming and one on the Arizona-Nevada border. .An amendment by Armstrong increasing in-creasing the authorization of the Closed Basin project in the Rio Grande Basin from $40 million to about $57 million. .An amendment renaming the Curecanti unit complex on the Gunnison Gun-nison River in the Upper Colorado Storage Project the Wayne N. Aspinall unit in honor of former Rep. Wayne N. Aspinall, D-Colo., former chairman of the House Interior Committee. .A study of the potential hydroelectric power additions to the Colorado-Big Thompson project in eastern Colorado. Minuses: .An amendment by Sen. Frank Church, Chur-ch, D-Idaho, prohibiting any study of tranmountain diversion projects among river basins. This amendment continues a provision already in statutes authorizing several water projects pro-jects which, in effect, prohibits any study of a diversion of water from the Pacific Northwest to the Colorado River Basin. But the Church amendment is broader than the earlier amendments because it prohibits such a study by any federal agency, or by any federal official, of-ficial, not just the Interior Department or Interior Secretary. .The Senate Omnibus feasibility study bill also contains a study which will not be popular in the Colorado River Basin states, notably the Upper Basin. It provides that a three-year study be instituted at a cost of $250,000 to ''investigate the development of up to 10,000 acre-feet of water annually of squatters on the Colorado River at the Arizona-California border who do not hold water rights on the River, but who have used water out of the river for many years. In effect, if the study pans out, it would legitmatize their use of Colorado River water if they live on the California Califor-nia side of the River. The water that might be firmed up could come from federal lands under which water has seeped from the Colorado River via the All-American and Coachella Canals in California according to a report on the bill. The bill authorizes feasibility studies into salinity at the following sites in or near the Colorado River Basin: Colorado: Lower Gunnison Basin in Delta, Montrose and Ouray Counties-Glenwood-Dotsero Springs in Garfield and Eagle Counties; Meeker Dome in Rio Blanco County; McElmo Creek in Montezuma County. Utah: Dirty Devil River in Sanpete, ' Sevier, Emery and Wayne Counties; LaVerkin Springs in Washington County; Coun-ty; Uintah Basin located in Duchesne land Uintah Counties; Price-San Rafael Rivers located in Carbon, Emery and Sanpete Counties. Wyoming : Big Sandy River located in Sweetwater County. Arizona;Nevada: Lower Virgin River located in Clark County, Nev., and Mohave County, Ariz. The bill also provides for feasibility studies of more than a dozen projects for hydro-electric potential or for additional addi-tional hydro-electric generation. They include projects in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Idaho, ' Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona. The Colorado study will be of pumped storage project in the Colorado Big Thompson project on the installation of a unit which would be able to generate 108,000 kilowatts for eight hours a day, five days a week. The bill initially came over from the House with several studies of California projects, notably to study the alter- ' natives of enlarging Shasta dam on the Sacramento River or building a new, larger dam with the aim to move more water efficiently from Northern California to Southern California. With all of the Senate amendments, it will have to go back to thellouse for concur--,, rence, but no problem is expected in getting House okay. Armstrong pointed out that if further water development is to come in the Colorado River basin, salinity at known sites will have to be cut. "I think it is important that we continue to search for ways to reduce salt content in this vital river basin," Armstrong stated. The authorization was being increased increas-ed on the Closed Basin project, Armstrong Arm-strong said, because costlier modifications modifica-tions would "greatly increase" the effectiveness ef-fectiveness of the project when built.