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MEETING WITH WATER USERS -STEVEN'S GULCH DRAINAGE October O8, 1984 • Attending this meeting were Wally McCaw, Otto Pavlisick and Martin Pavlisick representing the water users and Ron Stucki, Matt Sakurada, Jim Roberts and Kathy Geddes, Colorado Westmoreland Inc. Introductory remarks were made by Ron Stucki, Vice President and Gen- eral Manager of Colorado Westmoreland. Matt Sakurada, Manager of Engineering, Human Resources and Material Control, Colorado Westmoreland Inc., explained that twelve water rights have heen filed within the Steven's Gulch Basin and the people who were invited to attend the meeting were the people known to have these water rights at the present time. The people in attendance were asked to take the information given at the meeting back to others who might be inter- ested. Matt said water was important to coal mining and to agriculture and that it can be used with a minimal affect from mining. CWI has prepared a 16-volume permit application in response to State regulations for a long term lease issued by the Federal government in PAay, 1984. Une of the lease stipulations is to provide for water protection. There are places in the Steven's Gulch area which have been purposely excluded from the lease so they would not be undermined as a protective measure for the water. A description of the CWI's current fee area, leases and the new long • term lease was given. Matt explained that the first mining was done on a 120-acre fee parcel and then two Federal leases were obtained. The Farm- er's Mine was purchased from Pittsburgh and Midway (Gulf Oil) and a lease modification was obtained providing access to the Farmer's Mine from CWI's leased area. The initial process for the long-term lease involved delineating a potei,tial lease boundary for study. That MFP area included 10,000 acres and of that, 5,000 acres were ultimately leased. In response to input from the water users in the Roatcap and Terror Creek drainages, the lease bound- aries were located so as to not undermine the stream channel in those drainages. Jim Roberts, CWI Geologist, was introduced. He talked about the hydrologic cycle of precipitation, run-off, storage and evapotransporation. The hydrologic balance of the lease area shows approximately 25 inches of precipitation and 16 1/4 inches of runoff per year. The remaining eight inches are used by the native plants, mostly oak brush, and are returned to the atmosphere through evapotransportation. He said awide-spread aquifer, the Rollins Sandstone, approximately 180 feet below the "D" Coal Seam, extends from the North Fork Valley to Northwestern Colorado and is the basal member of the Mesaverde Formation. The coal seam and enclosing strata dip toward the north beneath Grand Mesa. In the studies of water occurrences, two types of water have been identified: surface and near-surface water from precipitation and run-off, •