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. . STATE OF COLORADO , MEMORANDUM RECEIVED JAN 1 2 1998 . OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER Division of Water Resources Department of Natural Resources 131 3 Sherman Street, Room 818 Denver, Colorado 80203 Phone (303) 866-3581 FAX (303) 866-3589 January 12, 1998 FROM: Hal Simpson Glenn Graham J6 D /} Colorado Water Conservation Board Roy Romer Governor James s. loch head Executive Director Hal D. Simpson State Engineer TO: SUBJECT: Denver Museum of Natural History Denver Basin Project Proposal I have reviewed the museum's proposal to the National Science Foundation in order to identify components of the project that would directly benefit the Division of Water Resources. The benefits I see are described below. There may be others that are not apparent at this time. . The proposed well would provide data point in a part of the Denver Basin where little hydrogeologic information is available. Most of the aquifer parameters (e.g. specific yield, transmissivity, and determination of thickness of saturated aquifer material) and the assumptions which we use to administer the Denver Basin Aquifers and quantify the resource were based on cores and geophysical logs obtained from the Castle Pines well. With the possible exception of the Dawson Aquifer, the part of the Denver Basin Aquifers having hydrogeologic properties similar to those found at the Castle Pines site contains only a fraction of the ground water stored in the Denver Basin. A larger amount of water is contained in aquifer materials more closely resembling the rocks likely to be present at the proposed museum project site. The aquifer material at the Castle Pines site, being closer to the sediment source, consists mostly of coarse-grained material. The proposed project site, at a greater distance from the mountain front, is characterized by the deposition of fine-grained sediments. The hydrogeologic data to be obtained from the museum project core and well will provide aquifer data more representative of the material comprising the majority of the Denver Basin Aquifers. The project provides an opportunity to relate hydraulic conductivity and specific yield data generated from laboratory analysis of the core to a suite of geophysical logs from the same well. Our ability to quantify ground water and predict effects of well pumping in a large part of the Denver Basin will be greatly enhanced. , High precision temperature logging to be provided by New Mexico Tech will provide data with regard to the movement of ground water through the aquifers, both horizontally and vertically. Finally, while I have not seen it, it is my understanding that Stan Robson of the U.S.G.S has written a letter to Mike Serlet, which identifies, from his perspective, the benefits of the proposed project. cc: Mike Serlet .