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April 30 2010 <br />Permittee Address <br />RE Mining Operations with Exposed Ground water <br />To Whom It May Concern <br />The Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety is responsible for ensuring that Sand and Gravel mining <br />operators comply with the requirements of the Colorado Land Reclamation Act for the Extraction of <br />Construction Materials Act and the Mineral Rules and Regulations of the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation <br />Board for the Extraction of Construction Materials Rules Among these requirements are provisions for the <br />protection of water resources The Act requires that reclamation plans must ensure minimization of <br />disturbances to the prevailing hydrologic balance including disturbances to the quantity of water in the area <br />affected by mining and in the surrounding areas 34 32 5 116 4 h Rule 3 1 6 1 a requires compliance <br />with Colorado water laws and regulations governing injury to existing water rights both during and after <br />mining Permits must specify how the permittee will comply with applicable Colorado water laws and <br />regulations governing injury to existing water right rights Rule 6 3 3 j Rule 6 4 5 2 c After an extensive <br />review the Division determined that several operators may not have appropriate permit conditions to <br />address certain reclamation liabilities arising from impacts to water resources <br />In September 2009 the Division of Water Resources DWR updated its Guidelines for Sand and Gravel Pits <br />These guidelines provide guidance on achieving compliance with state law regarding replacement of <br />depletions from sand and gravel mining thus the guidelines provide a benchmark for the protection of <br />hydrologic balance required under the Act and Rules As noted in the Guidelines sand and gravel <br />operations which expose groundwater without complying with state law create a reclamation liability by <br />impacting available groundwater <br />State law requires that any person exposing ground water must obtain a well permit from the SEO pursuant <br />to 37 90 137 11 Because exposed groundwater results in out of priority water depletions operations <br />which expose ground water must also eventually obtain a water court approved augmentation plan <br />Currently several operators do not have either an augmentation plan or bonding to provide an alternative <br />method to mitigate injurious stream depletions that result from mining related exposure of ground <br />water The Division has a statutory duty to ensure that lands affected by mining are reclaimed in a manner <br />that complies with state law and to ensure that operators have sufficient bonding to achieve reclamation In <br />order to assist operators in achieving compliance with these requirements the Division proposes that by <br />April 30 2011 operators should contact the Division and agree upon a plan for achieving compliance