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1 <br />' WATER RESOURCES <br />' Surface Water Resources <br />The principal surface water feature in the vicinity of the <br />mining site is the Cache la Poudre River. The river rises in <br />the mountains to the west near the Continental Divide and has <br />a drainage area of approximately 1900 square miles above the <br />site. Discharges of the river range from 10 cfs during the <br />fall and winter months to as much as 2000 cfs during the spring <br />and summer months. Approximately 758 of the annual flow of the <br />river occurs during the spring and summer months; the remaining <br />t 258 of the flow occurs throughout the rest of the year. The <br />flow of the river is regulated by transmountain diversions into <br />1 the basin and by diversions for irrigation of lands on the flood- <br />, plains and uplands. Much of the flow in the latter part of the <br />season is not the result of natural runoff but to the development <br />1 of water further upstream and irrigation return flows. Ground <br />water discharge accounts for part of the flows during the drier <br />t parts of the year. <br />Diversions for irrigation deplete stream flow. Irrigation of <br />' lands along the floodplain and the upland areas in the valley of <br />the Cache la Poudre between Fort Collins and Greeley accounts <br />for a major part of the flow depletion. There is considerable <br />more water appropriated in the Cache la Poudre River than there <br />is physically available for diversion, and the river is con- <br />' sidered fully appropriated. <br />Ground Water Resources <br />C-2 <br />