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Jared Dains Page 2 <br />January 30, 2015 <br />In accordance with the letter dated April 30, 2010 (see attached) from the Colorado <br />Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety ( "DRMS "), all sand and gravel mining <br />operators must comply with the requirements of the Colorado Reclamation Act and the <br />Mineral Rulesjand Regulations for the protection of water resources. The April 30, 2010 <br />letter from DRMS requires that you provide information to DRMS to demonstrate you can <br />replace long term injurious stream depletions that result from mining related exposure of <br />ground water. <br />In accordance with approach nos. 1 and 3, you have indicated that a bond has <br />been obtained for $432,522 through the Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety <br />( "DRMS ") to assure that depletions from groundwater evaporation do not occur in the <br />unforeseen event, or events, that would lead to the abandonment of the Pit. <br />DEPLETIONS <br />According to the submittal, the only consumptive uses of water are from dust control, which <br />you have estimated to be approximately 3.5 acre -feet per year, and evaporation from the <br />groundwater pond. Based on the NOAA Technical Report NWS -33, gross annual evaporation at <br />the location of the ground water pond is approximately 46.0 inches (3.83 acre -feet per surface <br />acre), or 0.58 acre -feet per year for the ground water pond (based on a pond surface area of 0.2 <br />acres). The total of 3.5 acre -feet per year for dust control would be withdrawn from well permit no. <br />59834 -F and piped approximately one mile to the storage tank and /or groundwater pond. The <br />water withdrawn from the groundwater pond will be less than or equal to water delivery so Schmidt <br />does not anticipate appropriating additional groundwater within the pit itself other than water lost to <br />evaporation. <br />The timing of depletions to Rock Creek attributable to pumping from the sump well no. <br />59834 -F were calculated using the Integrated Decision Support System AWAS program utilizing <br />the following lagging parameters: X =390 feet, transmissivity= 30,000 gallons per foot per day, <br />aquifer width =3,500 feet and specific yield =0.2. Due to the location of the sump and the lagging <br />parameters used, the stream depletions were determined to be 3.49 acre -feet. The ground water <br />pond is not located within the defined alluvium aquifer therefore for the purpose of this SWSP, the <br />Applicant assumed steady -state conditions, thus depletions accrue to the river uniformly through <br />the year. The total steady -state depletions covered by this plan period are 4.07 acre -feet as shown <br />on the attached Table 3. <br />The SWSP does not allow for use of storm water that may collect in on -site pits. Storm <br />water must be pumped out of any impoundment so it may enter the local drainage back to the <br />stream within 72 hours. <br />REPLACEMENTS <br />Replacement water will be supplied by historic consumptive use credits from 20 shares of <br />the Fountain Mutual Irrigation Company (FMIC) to Fountain Creek at FMIC's augmentation station <br />located on Spring Creek in Colorado Springs. Replacement credits for the Fountain Mutual shares <br />have averaged 0.7 acre -feet per share per year, representing a portion of farm headgate delivery. <br />These share percentages have been confirmed in previous court cases, most recently Case No. <br />07CW51. You have estimated that the 20 shares would yield 14 acre -feet per year of replacement <br />water, which is sufficient to cover the estimated depletions from the consumptive uses mentioned <br />above (including the requirement to replace the gross evaporation from the storage pond). <br />