2009-01-06_HYDROLOGY - M1977081 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Richard T. Raines Greeley West Pit SWSP (M-77-081) January 6, 2009 Page 2 provided you can document when mining in the individual ponds ceased. The Applicant is hereby notified that in accordance with the above described change in administration, the evaporation from ground water exposed prior to 1981 must be replaced after January 1, 2010 in any subsequent SWSP renewal for this pit. The Greeley West Pit is located approximately 350 feet from the Cache La Poudre River, thus depletions were not assumed to be instantaneous and have been lagged back to the Cache La Poudre River. You have provided a monthly breakdown of the annual depletions totaling 86.8 acre- feet of evaporative loss. No phreatophyte credit has been applied to this plan. Replacements The proposed sources of replacement water for this pit are 7 shares of the Greeley Irrigation Canal No. 3 and fully consumable water provided by the City of Greeley. The 7 shares of the Greeley Irrigation Canal No. 3 will be used to replace depletions of 59.9 acre-feet during the irrigation season (irrigation season limited to April 15 through October 31 pursuant to paragraph 6.7.3 of case no. 1996CW658), and the fully consumable water provided by the City of Greeley will be used to replace depletions of 45.43 acre-feet during October and the non-irrigation season. The point of replacement for the water provided by the City of Greeley will be the Greeley Wastewater Treatment Plant. A copy of the lease agreement with the City of Greeley for 45.43 acre-feet of consumable effluent from Greeley's wastewater plant was provided to this office on December 8, 2008, and a copy of the lease is attached to this letter. A portion of the Greeley Canal No. 3 was changed in Division 1 Water Court in case no. 96CW658 based on a ditch-wide analysis by the Poudre Prairie Mutual Reservoir and Irrigation Company. The use of the subject ditch shares shall be in accordance with the terms and conditions decreed in case no. 1996CW658, including monthly and annual volumetric limits on water deliveries and monthly return flow requirements. The decree in case no.1996CW658 found that 519.7 shares have been used to irrigate 3,501 acres with an average historic consumptive use of 5,358 acre-feet per year, which yields an average consumptive use credit of 10.31 acre-feet per share (5,358 acre- feet/519.7 shares). Based on the above, the 7 shares to be used in this plan.results in a consumptive use credit of 72.2 acre-feet per year (10.31 acre-feet per share x 7 shares). The 7 shares are reported to have been used to irrigate 71.8 acres, which are located in the eastern portion of the Greeley West Pit site and were a portion of the original 3,501 acres of irrigated lands. The 71.8 acres are no longer irrigated due to the mining operation and ground water lakes. The amount and location of the dry-up of the irrigated acreage associated with the Applicant's shares of the Greeley Canal No. 3 was submitted to this office on October 31, 2002. In paragraph 6.7.4 of the decree in case no. 1996CW658, future farm headgate deliveries of the 67.75 shares were limited to 1,712 acre-feet per year (25.26 acre-feet per share) and 12,631 acre-feet 186.43 acre-feet per share) in any consecutive 10 year period. Deliveries of the 7 shares of GIC water under this plan must comply with these limits. The historical return flows must be maintained in accordance with the return flow factors identified in case no. 1996CW658 and shown on the attached Table No. 3. The return flows associated with the delivery of Fossil Creek Reservoir water that is attributable to the 7 GIC shares will also be maintained in accordance with the surface and subsurface factors decreed in case nos. 1996CW658 and shown on the attached Table No. 3. Pursuant to paragraph 6.7.6 of case no. 1996CW658, the subsurface component of the return flow