2025-08-01_PERMIT FILE - C1981019

Home Browse Search

RULE 2 PERMITS South Taylor – Rule 2, Page 24 Revision Date: 7/21/25 Revision No.: MR-267 Sufficient water rights to Good Spring Creek are held by Colowyo to allow them to avoid using the volume of water that is diminished during and after mining. Colowyo is a large surface water right owner in the Upper Yampa area (Water District 44) of Colorado Water Division 6. Included in these rights are several diversions on Good Spring Creek controlled by Colowyo. The appropriation date on these diversions owned by Colowyo are in the 1890’s, making them the most senior rights on Good Spring Creek. Therefore, any reduction in base flow can be met by Colowyo not exercising their water rights on Good Spring Creek in the amount of the reduction of the base flow, if it is found to be necessary. Please see table below defining current water rights owned by Colowyo on Good Springs Creek. Water Right Name Twshp Range Sect Q160 Q40 Appropriation Date Rate Amount (CFS) Volume Amount (ACFT) ARTHUR COLLOM DITCH 4N 93W 23 SE NE 1885-05-10 0.1000 ELK HORN DITCH 3N 93W 2 SE NW 1883-03-20 1.2300 GOOD SPRING DITCH NO 1 3N 93W 2 SE SW 1885-05-20 0.5000 GOOD SPRINGS DITCH NO 2 3N 93W 2 SE SW 1885-05-20 1.0000 JOSEPH COLLOM DESERT LAND DITCH 3N 93W 11 NE NW 1883-03-20 0.5000 SPRING CREEK DITCH 2 4N 93W 26 NE NW 1887-06-30 0.5800 SPRING CREEK DITCH 2 4N 93W 26 NE NW 1887-06-30 0.2900 TAYLOR DITCH 3N 93W 2 NE NW 1879-05-01 1.6600 WILSON RESERVOIR 4N 93W 13 SE SE 1975-09-16 349.6000 COLOWYO TAYLOR PUMP NO. 1 4N 93W 27 NW SW 1980-12-31 1.11 Surface Water Use – Surface water is used extensively in the broader stream valleys of the area. Surface water consumption is predominantly associated with irrigation of agricultural lands. Surface water withdrawals in the Lower Yampa River basin totaled 75.2 million gallons per day (mgd) in 1995 (USGS 1995). About 99 percent of the surface water withdrawals (75.1 mgd) were used for irrigation. The irrigated acreage totaled 13,240 acres. Mining and livestock use account for the remaining surface water withdrawals. All of the major streams are over-appropriated, and therefore, many of the surface water rights are inactive (CDM, 1985b). Large storage reservoirs are often constructed to capture spring runoff and facilitate irrigation of fields in the summer months when natural flows are diminished. Surface water adjudication rights within the South Taylor Permit Revision Area are summarized in Table 2.04.7-36, based on a CDWR water rights database (CDWR 2005). Most of the adjudications support multiple uses. The adjudication does not necessarily reflect the amount of water available in any given year for the intended uses, only a representation of legal claims to the water in a particular stream course. Detailed Surface Water Resource Information Surface Water Characteristics – The South Taylor permit revision area includes the drainages of Good Spring, Wilson, and Taylor Creeks. Colowyo’s existing mining operations exist primarily in the Good Spring Creek drainage. Although Taylor Creek is a tributary to Wilson Creek, the point of confluence is several miles downstream from the South Taylor permit revision area, and thus Taylor Creek is examined as a separate drainage in this presentation. The principal drainages within the permit revision area described below.