South Platte - Upper Mt Counties Water Needs Assessment_WASS

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Water Supply Reserve Account -Grant and Loan Program Water Activity Summary Sheet Applicant: Clear Creek County on behalf of Upper Mountain Counties Water Needs Consortium Amount Requested: $174,350 ($43,587 -Metro and $130,763 -South Platte) Water Activity Name: Upper Mountain Counties Water Needs Assessment Source of Funds: Metro and South Platte Basin Accounts Matching Funds: $8,070 in in-kind contributions Water Activity Purpose: Study or analysis of a consumptive activity County: Park, Jefferson, Clear Creek, and Gilpin Drainage Basin: South Platte Water Source: Fractured and faulted bedrock aquifers in the upper South Platte basin Water Activity Summary: In March, 2008 four upper mountain counties in the South Platte River basin head waters formed the Upper Mountain Counties Water Needs Consortium by MOU. The purpose of the Consortium is to "perform a study to accurately identify water needs, available water supplies and any shortages that may exist in the Upper Mountain Counties and identify projects and or actions that may be need to address any shortages ..." The Upper Mountain Counties Water Needs Consortium consists of the four upper mountain counties in the South Platte River basin head waters, Park, Jefferson, Clear Creek, and Gilpin counties. The study area is that part of Jefferson County that is mountainous, that part of Park County east of Kenosha Pass, all of Clear Creek county, and all of Gilpin county. Clear Creek County has been designated as the Consortium's agent to apply to the Roundtables and manage the contracts. Overview of the Water Activity The main purpose of this analysis is to determine the long term availability of ground water in the fractured and faulted bedrock aquifers in the study area and evaluate if the use of ground water at buildout for the four county study area can be sustained. The study will use information on precipitation in the study area from 1950 to the present, recharge related to this precipitation, and increased use of ground water as the area has developed to take into consideration a range of hydrologic variation over the period which included wet, average, and dry periods of precipitation. The Upper Mountain County Water Needs Assessment and Water Supply Analysis will provide a more accurate assessment of the water needs of the study area which is highly dependent upon ground water in fractured and faulted bedrock aquifers. The area has been developed and subdivided into thousands of lots relying on on-lot wells and on-lot sewage disposal systems. Many of the lots were created prior to May, 1972 when the 1972 Land Use Act was enacted (SB-35). The owners of these lots pre-1972 are entitled to have a household use only well under a presumption of no injury to other vested water rights (CRS 37-92- 602). If all of these lots are improved and homes constructed on them, there is the potential of having water supply issues related to sustainability and water quality. This analysis will assist the counties in determining if potential problems could result from the buildout of all the platted lots and if they need to take action to reduce the potential problems in areas where they can occur. The study will also look at recharge potential for these bedrock aquifer systems using information from a recent USGS study in Jefferson County in the Turkey Creek Watershed. Water supply needs, water consumptive use, return flows from on-lot sewage