Laserfiche WebLink
<br />requires the proponent to purchase surface water rights for the purpose of augmentation. <br />Limited quantities of recoverable ground-water exist in the over appropriated watershed. <br />Because there are ample high-quality surface water supplies available in the area for <br />direct use (from the cities of Victor and Cripple Creek), it is highly unlikely that a future <br />water user would choose the more expensive and difficult route of a plan for <br />augmentation rather than obtaining the water from the cites. Further, there is not <br />expected to be any more water available in the future after reclamation than there is now. <br />Therefore, the same constraints of quantity and quality will persist. <br />2. The shallow ground-water system is extremely limited in areal extent and low yield <br />from the rocks due to (1) dewatering by drainage to the mining tunnel system and (2) <br />very "tight" bedrock conditions (dependent on fracture permeability) which constrains <br />development of potentially useful quantities of ground water for beneficial uses. <br />3. There are constraints on the use of shallow ground water related to the mineralized <br />character of the water (i.e., water quality in terms of sulfate, TDS, fluoride, and the <br />potential for dissolution of trace heavy metals passing through the mineralized volcanic <br />diatreme system of the Cripple Creek Mining District). <br />4. Saturated ground-water conditions that would be necessary to supply any substantial <br />ground-water supplies require very deep drilling (ca. 2,500 feet) because ground water <br />is drained to the underground mining drainage tunnel system. The quality of water at <br />the uppermost levels (±2,500 feet) of this presumed-to-be saturated system within the <br />diatreme is anticipated, based on sampling and geochemical analyses, to be poorer than <br />at greater depths, making it potentially even more expensive to develop the resources to <br />be used at the surface. <br />5. The direction of shallow and deep ground water flow is affected by the historic <br />underground mining drainage tunnel system, and by the topography which slopes SSW <br />from Pikes Peak area. Based on the complete lack of water in the Ironclad and Globe <br />Hill mines and the absence of any drilled holes that have encountered water in the area <br />of the Globe Hill and Ironclad Mines and the Victor Mill area, confirming that the <br />underground mining activities have resulted conditions that do not justify ground-water <br />monitoring wells in the area, there is no useable water that is affected in these areas. <br />6. There is an abundance of surface water supplied by the Cripple Creek and Victor raw <br />water systems, more surface water from these supplies is available in comparison to <br />ground water, and the surface water is generally more economical to use here than <br />ground water. Even if agricultural supplies could be developed from the ground water <br />system, the growing season is too short at this elevation to make efficient use of the <br />water for irrigation. <br />7. In more than 100 years of recent human occupation of the area, ground water has <br />never been used to any significant extent for any purpose. For example, CC&V <br />5 <br />