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<br />SECTION D - WATER RESOURCES <br />Proposed mining of the area for which this Special Permit <br />is being requested results in the opening of lake surfaces in <br />an area historically comprised of phreatophyte cottonwood and <br />willow trees, marshland, pasture and areas converted by man to <br />the production of agricultural crops of corn and. alfalfa. <br />Water rights with the property presently includes 5 shares <br />of The Greeley irrigation Company and 4 adjudicated wells <br />It is possible that water augmentation will be necessary <br />to compensate for evaportation from the 128.539 acre lake to <br />be formed. This augmentation could take place in the following <br />of three ways (1} use of shares of water from The Greeley <br />Irrigation Company or/and shares of the Fulton Irrigation Ditch <br />Company, {2} abandonment of adjudicated wells and/or (3} establish- <br />ment of water storage on the property, utilizing water from flood <br />stages to be released as needed downstream. <br />Should the Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Board <br />desire water augmentation to compensate for evaporation, <br />historical information, reported probable evaporation and <br />reasonable augmentation are outlined in the following <br />paragraphs: <br />Historically, as reported by the U. S. Army Corps of <br />Engineers in their report of March 1994, prepared for the ~„g. <br />Lazimer-Weld Regional Planning Commission, the area under ~3 <br />consideration has been subjected to numerous floods. <br />Twenty percent of the land is marsh and eighty percent of ~~ <br />the land has been used from time to time for agricultural ' <br />purposes. 128.539 additional water surface in the form of a <br />lake will be added following mining and reclamation. <br />Based on data in Water Court Case W-8283-76 (see Section <br />F of this report) annual evaporation of water three miles <br />South (N~ of Section 21, Township 5 North, Range 65 West) is <br />estimated to be 29 inches per year. Precipitation (see <br />Section F of this report) in the study area averages 11 <br />inches per year; thus, a lake created in the proposed mining <br />area would have a net loss of 16 inches of water per year: <br />Prior to man's arrival to the area, the marshland and land <br />supporting natural grasses were in natural balance and <br />moisture was supplied mainly from ground water controlled by <br />the Cache La Poudre River. <br />6I <br />-4a- <br />