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a <br />Mr. Richard Raines March 17, 2009 <br />Middle Poudre Combined Plan - Lafarge West, Inc. Page 5 of 9 <br />the Weitzel Pit site. The historical consumptive use credit of 1 Box Elder Ditch share associated with the <br />Weitzel Farm was determined to be 43.8 acre-feet. This is based on a historical consumptive use <br />analysis that 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 with the <br />Swift Farm was determined to be 101.1 acre-feet based on the historical consumptive use analysis in <br />case no. 94CW015. As described in 94CW105, the Swift Farm is no longer irrigated and the decree <br />references 70 acres of dry-up associated with the 2 shares. The total consumptive use credit available <br />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 shares. <br />Lafarge plans to divert the full farm headgate delivery of 756.90 acre-feet into the recharge site. A total <br />of 365.00 acre-feet were diverted into the recharge site between May 4 and October 28, 2008. Because <br />of the small volume of recharge in 2008, Lafarge had a shortfall of 188.8 acre-feet. The 2008 depletions <br />not covered by recharge were replaced by leases with the Lake Canal Reservoir Company ("LCRC"), <br />City of Greeley ("Greeley") and City of Fort Collins ("Fort Collins") as shown on the attached Table 6. A <br />copy of the lease with the LCRC was submitted to this office on January 9, 2008. Copies of the Greeley <br />and Fort Collins leases were submitted with this plan request and they are attached to this letter. <br />Lafarge will divert the full farm headgate delivery of the 8.5 Box Elder Ditch shares starting in April 2009. <br />Accordingly, the monthly timing of 756.90 acre-feet (full farm headgate delivery of the 8.5 shares) was <br />used in the recharge model to determine the recharge accretion credits for 2008. The lagged accretions <br />to the Cache la Poudre River are estimated to total 578.74 acre-feet for this approval period (includes <br />carry over from recharge in previous years). <br />The Three Bells site was continuously dewatered at a rate of 1,200 gallons per minute. The <br />timing of the lagged depletions from the dewatering operation was determined through a stream <br />depletion model for the Three Bells Pit. The model addresses the lagged depletions at the Greeley 35th <br />Avenue Pit, East Rigden Pit, Kyger Pit, Port of Entry Pit and Weitzel Pit by accounting for the net <br />accretion credits at the river that occur due to the dewatering operation at the Three Bells Pit. These <br />accretions are applied to this plan against depletions from the Greeley 35th Avenue Pit, East Rigden Pit, <br />Kyger Pit, Port of Entry Pit and Weitzel Pit. The attached Appendix F summarizes the accretion credits <br />from dewatering at the Three Bells Pit. <br />During the Water Year 2009, a lease from the City of Greeley will make replacements for <br />depletions not covered by the recharge program. A lease of 44.05 acre-feet of fully consumable water <br />from Greeley will make replacements in February, March, April, May and September. A copy of the <br />Greeley lease for 111.37 acre-feet was submitted to this office on March 3, 2009. The lease will cover <br />the 67 acre-feet through the trade agreement and the remaining 44.05 acre-feet for February, March, <br />April, May and September. <br />The remaining 34 acre-feet from the Greeley lease used to cover the short fall in 2008 water year <br />will cover the replacement requirements from November 2008 through February 2009. According to the <br />information provided the 34 acre-feet was released in November 2008. <br />A monthly breakdown of the stream depletions from the mining operations as well as the <br />replacements is shown in the attached Table 1. <br />Conditions of Approval <br />I hereby approve the proposed substitute water supply plan in accordance with Section § 37-90- <br />137(11), C.R.S. subject to the following conditions: