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Mr. Peter Wayland Page 2 of 8 <br /> Challenger SWSP <br /> November 17, 2016 <br /> Note, that the approval of this substitute water supply plan does not relieve the <br /> Applicant and/or landowner of the requirement to obtain a Water Court decree approving <br /> a permanent plan for augmentation or mitigation to ensure the permanent replacement of <br /> all depletions, including long-term evaporation losses and lagged depletions after gravel <br /> mining operations have ceased. To allow additional time for filing, the deadline for <br /> submitting an application for a plan for augmentation is hereby extended to December 31, <br /> 2017 by way of this letter. Approval of this plan does not imply approval by this office of <br /> any related litigation. By that date the Applicant or its successor in ownership must have <br /> either filed an application with the Water Court for a court-approved augmentation plan <br /> or commenced lining or backfilling of the site or explain why an extension to the above <br /> deadline is required. <br /> Depletions <br /> The anticipated net depletion for this plan is 52.62 acre-feet per year for up to 23 <br /> acres of water exposed after December 31, 1980. Gross evaporation at this site is taken from <br /> NOAA TR-33 Map 3 and is estimated to be 41 inches per year with an effective precipitation <br /> amount of 10.58 inches. The lagged evaporation depletions from the Challenger Pit were <br /> estimated by the Applicant's consultant using the Integrated Decision Support group's Alluvial <br /> Water Accounting System (IDS AWAS) stream depletion model with the following assumptions: <br /> • Distance from the centroid to the river; XPond I - 642 ft, XPond Z = 322 ft, XPond 3 = <br /> 263 ft <br /> • Alluvial aquifer width (W) = 1,700 ft <br /> • Specific Yield (S) = 0.2 <br /> • Transmissivity (T) = 67,325 (gpd/ft) <br /> The stream depletions model was taken to a steady state condition and show that the <br /> stream depletions will equal the yearly evaporation of 52.62 acre-feet at a monthly rate as <br /> shown in the attached Table All.2. <br /> Replacement <br /> The proposed source of replacement for this pit includes historical consumptive use <br /> credit from 7.4 shares of Hill Ft Brush Ditch water rights from the dry-up of 37 acres of land, <br /> and a water lease with the City of Loveland. The applicant has a 25-year Water lease with <br /> the City of Loveland ("Loveland") for 100 acre-feet of fully consumable water which is used <br /> for replacement purposes for Gardels Pit, Kitright Pit and Brownwood Pit gravel pits operated <br /> by the Applicant, including the Challenger Pit. Loveland will deliver this water to the Big, <br /> Thompson River approximately 10 miles upstream of the Challenger Pit, at their waste water <br /> treatment plant (WDID 0402300). Therefore a transit loss of 2.0% (8 miles @ 0.25%/mile) will <br /> be assessed on all releases. Transit Losses are subject to change at the water commissioner's <br /> discretion. The monthly depletion and replacement requirements, based on an average year <br /> are found on the attached Table A11.2. <br /> Under the terms of the Loveland lease, replacements can be made using a variety of <br /> water owned by Loveland including, but not limited to, Windy Gap reusable effluent, <br /> Loveland Storage Reservoir water as decreed in case no. 82CW202A, and Colorado Big <br /> Thompson ("C-BT") Project water. In the event that Loveland plans to use C-BT water as a <br />