Laserfiche WebLink
Mr. Richard Raines June 17, 2008 <br />Middle Poudre Combined Plan - Lafarge West, Inc. Page 4 of 9 <br />Lafarge owns 550 Boyd and Freeman Ditch shares which were historically used for <br />irrigation on the Greeley 35`h Avenue Pit mining site. Irrigation has ceased on the 35th Avenue Pit <br />site due to the mining operation and groundwater lakes. The historical accretions and depletions <br />for the 475 shares were prorated from the 550 Boyd and Freeman shares that originally irrigated <br />the property. The dry-year historical consumptive use credit from the 475 Boyd and Freeman <br />Ditch shares is 245 acre-feet with a non-irrigation season return flow obligation of 16.6 acre-feet <br />(Table 4). The transit losses between the Three Bells Pit and the Greeley 35th Avenue Pit will also <br />be replaced by the applicant's Boyd and Freeman Ditch shares.. <br />The source of replacement water for the winter months at the Greeley 35th Avenue Pit <br />and the other sites included in this combined plan will be from 8.5 Box Elder Ditch shares. <br />Lafarge owns 8.5 shares in the Box Elder Ditch and will use all of the shares in this combined <br />plan. The shares will be diverted into a recharge pit through an existing lateral from the ditch. <br />The recharge pit was constructed on the un-mined portion of the Three Bells Pit site and it was <br />excavated to only the upper portion of the gravel deposit and will not expose additional ground <br />water. The estimated recharge pit size is one acre. For the purposes of this plan, evaporation <br />from open water was assumed for the entire surface area of the recharge pit for the number of <br />days water was diverted into the recharge pit. Based on this approach, the proportion of days <br />with water diverted into the recharge pit to the number of days per month was applied to the <br />monthly gross evaporation rate, resulting in an evaporative consumptive use from the recharge <br />pit of approximately 2.04 acre-feet. <br />Lafarge owns 5.5 shares of the 6.0 shares of the Box Elder Ditch that were historically <br />utilized for the irrigation of the Three Bells property (344.3 acres). The dry-up acreage claimed <br />for Lafarge's 5.5 shares would be 305.6 acres of the 344.3 historically irrigated acres on the <br />Three Bells property. The historical consumptive use credit of the 5.5 Box Elder Ditch shares <br />associated with the Three Bells property was determined to be 281.4 acre-feet, based on a <br />historical consumptive use analysis that was completed in support of an application for an <br />augmentation plan pending in case no. 2002CW205. <br />Lafarge also owns 1 share of 3.5 shares historically utilized for the irrigation of the <br />Robert Weizel Farm (145 acres) and another 2 shares of 5 shares historically used for the <br />irrigation of the Louis Swift Farm. The Robert Weitzel Farm is no longer irrigated due to the <br />mining at the Weitzel Pit and the adjacent Stute Pit operated by Connell Resource, Inc. The <br />dry-up acreage claimed for Lafarge's 1 share would be 41.4 acres of the 145 acres historically <br />irrigated on the Robert Weitzel Farm. The Robert Weitzel Farm property is no longer irrigated <br />and includes the 66.7 acres of ground water lakes at the Weitzel Pit site. The historical <br />consumptive use credit of 1 Box Elder Ditch share associated with the Weizel Farm was <br />determined to be 43.8 acre-feet. This is based on a historical consumptive use analysis that <br />was completed in support of an application for an augmentation plan pending in case no. <br />2002CW205. The historical consumptive use credit of the 2 Box Elder Ditch shares associated <br />with the Swift Farm was determined to be 101.1 acre-feet based on the historical consumptive <br />use analysis in case no. 94CW015. As described in 94CW105, the Swift Farm is no longer <br />irrigated and the decree references 70 acres of dry-up associated with the 2 shares. The total <br />consumptive use credit available from the 8.5 Box Elder Ditch shares is 426.26 acre-feet. <br />The attached Table 3 shows the farm headgate delivery of the 8.5 Box Elder Ditch <br />shares. Lafarge plans to divert the full farm headgate delivery of 747.5 acre-feet into the <br />recharge site. A total of 162.4 acre-feet were diverted into the recharge site between May 1 <br />and October 17, 2007. Because of the small volume of recharge in 2007, Lafarge had a <br />shortfall of 251.31 acre-feet from April 2007 through October 2007. Therefore Lafarge secured