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~~~ ~°~ p u ~"~~' • III IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII .STATE OF COLORADO OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER Division or Water Resources ~oe~co~o4 Department of Natural Resources January 25, 2000 ~'°'o 0 13 t 3 Sherman Sveet, Room 818 i' ~~ Denver, Colorado 80203 ra]5 Phone: (7031 866-3 5 81 _ fAx: (303) 866-3589 Bdl O.~ens Governor hnpl/waierstaie.co.~s/deiault.htm Creg E. vlal<her J.E. Stover E>ecunve Dvecior J.E. Stover & Associates Hal D s~mpson, P E 2768 Compass Dr., Ste 101 vale E°g gee, Grand Junction, CO 81506 RE: Bowie Mine No. 2 Substitute Supply Plan Sections 15, Township 13 South, Range 91 West, 6th P.M., Water Division 4, Water District 40 Dear Mr. Stover: We have completed review of your request on behalf of Bowie Resources Limited (Bowie) for a substitute water supply plan the Bowie Mine No. 2. The mine is located on an unnamed tributary of the North Fork Gunnison River, which is downstream of Hubbard Creek and upstream of Terror Creek. Three sedimentation ponds are to be constructed on-site to capture runoff. The normal water surface will be maintained at the level of the outlet. Immediately following storm events the water level will be higher, but only for a short period of time. Filling and evaporation from these ponds must be augmented during times of call. The plan proposes to replace evaporation from the sedimentation ponds with East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir water. (Note that depending on the river call status at the time, replacement water may also be necessary for the filing of the sedimentation ponds that occurs in the dead storage pool, since this water cannot be released during a call.) Bowie claims a lease of 25% of the 383 acre-foot storage water right remaining of that originally decreed in Case No. 2563, per abandonments in Case Nos. 89CW121 and 92CW57, which amounts to 95.75 acre-feet. Note that in Case No. W-3106, 74 acre-feet of the water leased from the reservoir was changed to industrial, domestic and irrigation use for an augmentation plan decreed therein, therefore, 21.75 acre-feet of the leased storage right remains unchanged and is available for use herein. Although Case No. W-3106 required replacement releases at a rate of 1.852 times the diversion amounts from well used to supply water for the Orchard Valley Mine (now known as Bowie Mine No. 1), the decree also stated that "The Division Engineer shall adjust the transportation loss and historic use factor of he deems it necessary to prevent injury..." Therefore, based on consultation with the Division Engineer, the historic use factor of 60% percent is deemed acceptable, and the transportation loss is adjusted to 50%, such that replacement releases are required to be at a rate of 3.33 times the consumptive use of the sedimentation ponds. Annual evaporation is estimated at 1.88 acre-feet, as shown in the attached table titled Pond and Lake Evaporation, and is based on a total surface area of 0.71 acres. This corresponds to the total surface area at the level of the pond outlets. Total dead storage capacity is 1.61 acre-feet. Therefore, maximum potential annual depletions are estimated as 3.49 acre-feet. Attached Page 4 from the Resource Engineering Inc. report of October 19, 1999, provides a table of the sedimentation pond sizes and capacities, and provides the pond locations. Under this plan depletions are to be replaced at a ratio of 3.33 acre-feet of releases to 1 acre-foot of depletions. Therefore, the maximum potential replacement requirement is 11.62 acre-feet. This leaves 10.09 acre-feet available under the lease. This substitute water supply plan is hereby approved pursuant to Section 37-80-120, C.R.S., subject to the following conditions: 1. If written objections to the following conditions are not received by this office and the Division Engineer (Wayne Schieldt, P.O. Box 456, Montrose, CO 81402, telephone 970-249-6622) within 20 days of the receipt of this approval, it will be assumed that the applicant has accepted, and will operate this plan in accordance with, the below conditions. This plan shall then be valid through January 31, 2001, unless