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ROY ROMER Governor III~II~II~II~III~ • ~~~' o ,'~ ~ ~` • '~' w * 1876 s OFFICE OF THE STATE ENGINEER DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES 7313 Sherman Street-Room 818 Denver, Colorado 80203 (303)866-3581 FAX [303] 866-3589 May 20, 1992 IJIr. Alan Leak WRC Engineering, Inc. 1660 S. Albion Street, Suite 500 Denver, CO 80222 RE: Valco Inc.'s Substitute Water Supply Plans MI.RD M77559, M77560, M77572, M77573, M8400~and M86015 Water D;'vision 2 Deaz Alan: The State Engineer's Office is in receipt of your February 14, 1992 le clarification of Senate Bill 120's (SB 120) grandfather date in regards to the evapor; on pre-1981 surface acres. We offer the following comments in response to your iAL) D. SAMSON State Engineer requesting depletions SB 120 allows an exemption from the priority system of depletions sociated with evaporation from pre-1981 exposed ground water surface acres resulting from gravel mining operations. Your specific question is "...does SB 120 allow the exposed waters ace azea to be moved around within the given pit with augmentation being required only for xposed water surface azea in excess of the pre-1981 water surface azea?" Section 37-90-137 11(b), C.RS. provides in part that "...no such well p rmit, plan for augmentation or plan of substitute supply shall be required to replace d letions from evaporation...". You azgue that the intent of this statute was to grandfather d pletions. The exposed azea is a method of defining the grandfathered depletions. A continuous mi-ting operation within the specified reclamation permit ea which had established a pond azea as of January 1, 1981, may continue mining operatio within that permitted azea without the need of a well permit nor a plan of augmentation for t amount of associated consumptive use by evaporation, provided there is no deactivation of th operation and the total resultant exposure of ground water within the permitted area does not xceed the azea of exposure as of January 1, 1981. The burden of proof remains with the applicant to accurately document the p e-1981 ground water surface acreage. It is also the responsibility of the applicant to strictly regulat the post-1981 surface acres and submit reports of appropriate data.