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MRR-06-2000 17:03 DWR DIVISION 3 719 589 6685 P.02i03 <br /> <br />LAW OFFICE o~ DOUG GEORGE <br />1115 Main Street, Alamoea, CO 81101 (719) 589.6767 <br />Pax No. (719) 589-1450 p~~p <br />March 3, 2000 WIR 06 '00 <br />WATER RE9p(iCf! <br />lt~TE FJV0eEH1 <br />uu.ov. <br />Steve Vandiver, Division Engineer <br />Colorado Division of Water Resources <br />P.O. Box 269 <br />Alamosa, CO 81101 <br />RE: Indication of Rito Seco Upstream Contamination, <br />Costilla County, Colorado <br />Dear Mr. Vandiver: <br />This letter is written with reference to the matters also referenced in the <br />"Notice of Violation and Intent to Sue Pursuant to the Ciean Water Act." dated <br />August 4, 1999, which concerned seeps identified on Battie Mountain Gold propeny <br />located near San Luis, Colorado. It is my understanding that testing from those <br />seeps identified the discharge of several pollutants including calcium, flueride, <br />manganese (dissolved}, manganese (total), sulphate, TDS, iron (dissolved), iron <br />{total), chloride, potassium, silica (dissolved), silica (total), cadmium, an~i copper. <br />At a location approximately 1 nule downstream of the Battle Mountain Gold <br />discharge, my clients, Shalom Ranch and Sandy Cooper, operate a well and irrigation <br />center pivot, which imgates theiu alfalfa field. That well and center pivot provide the <br />water for the crop that furnishes feed for the Shalom Ranch operation. This well has <br />operated for many years producing 800 gallons of water per minute. Iiovrever, in <br />August of 1999, the well lost SO°~ of its production, resulting in a production of 400 <br />gallons per minute. Mr. Cooper investigated the problem thoroughly by the <br />involvement of well expens and others; and, after other potential causes of the <br />problem were eliminated (e.g. less water available), he was left. with the remaining <br />concern of an unusual and rapid corrosion of the metal parts involved in the well's <br />operation. T'he corrosion included large tvhit.e "boils" which only appeared on the <br />casing below the water table and which restilted in dogging of 9U°!o of the pipe <br />perforations. A piping rystem, used to vacuum out the well, rusted considerably and <br />also developed white deposits, even though that line was only in the hole ror <br />approximately 2 weeks. <br />