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<br />Park Center Water District <br />P.O. Box 1406 <br />Canon City, CO 81215 <br />(719) 275-2055 <br />Fax (719) 275-0268 <br />Teller County Pranning Commission <br />Teller County Centennial Building <br />Cripple Creek, CO <br /> <br />i9NJfi19 <br />IRE <br />,JUL I 12008 <br />Division of Reciatnetlon, <br />Mining and Safety <br />Park Center Water District -,Objector to <br />Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mine Application for Mine Life Extension <br />The Park Center Water District is a Special District of the State of Colorado. The <br />District's single function is to provide domestic drinking water to approximately four <br />thousand residents in the North Canon City area. The District's primary source of supply <br />comes from Fourmile Creek which is delivered through the headgate of Canon Heights <br />Irrigation and Reservoir Company to the District's treatment plant. Due to the <br />diminished water quality coming from the Carlton Tunnel, which we believe is <br />attributable to historical mining, we would like to be included in the list of objectors to <br />CC&V's application for a Mine Life Extension. Park Center has a limited range of <br />concerns, which if properly addressed, would eliminate our objections to the Mine Life <br />Extension. <br />The Park Center Water District's source water protection area was delineated by <br />the State of Colorado under the auspices of U.S.E.P.A. , and listed the Fourmile Creek <br />source risk as "Moderately High, " primarily due to the fact that the Carlton Tunnel <br />discharge into Fourmile Creek is of such poor quality. Discharges from the Carlton <br />Tunnel account for nearly all the permanent hardness (sulfates) in the District's source <br />water. <br />If you look at Exhibit A, test results from an independent lab show that sulfate <br />levels at Cripple Creek are "121 mg/1", at the Roosevelt Tunnel "557 mg/1", and after the <br />Carlton Tunnel "1200 mg/1". It is obvious that Carlton Tunnel water has a dramatic <br />negative effect on water quality. All water treatment is dependent upon raw water quality. <br />The District has a state-of-the-art treatment plant which can treat for this hardness <br />but treatment costs are significantly increased by hardness constituents. The level of <br />hardness directly impacts the costs to the District's customers, and makes them <br />disproportionately high. The Park Center Water District and its customers have been <br />bearing a corresponding disproportionate financial burden to mitigate the effects of <br />Carlton tunnel mining discharges and believes those reaping the benefits of present <br />mining should share some responsibility for the impact mining discharges have on <br />downstream users. CC&V has stated that "Water quality in the Carlton Tunnel has been <br />stable since the inception of the Cresson Mine in 1993 and no current mine workings are <br />connected to the tunnel." In other words, we didn't create the problem so it is not our <br />responsibility to fix it.