2011-05-13_HYDROLOGY - M1977439 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Jared Dains Page 5 May 11, 2011 W-9332-78, the Court found that 4,200 acre-feet, or more per year, will be available from Fort Collins to the PRPA to be used primarily for cooling purposes in connection with its Rawhide Energy Facility. Pursuant to the decree in case no. W-9332-78, if PRPA does not require the water for its own purposes, PRPA, Fort Collins, or other water users may utilize the water for any other beneficial purpose including augmentation. In addition, PRPA has entered into an Agreement with the North Poudre Irrigation Company ("North Poudre") dated November 15, 1979 which grants PRPA the right to store surplus water (which is surplus water beyond the needs of the Rawhide Energy Facility) in Fossil Creek Reservoir and lease such water to others who can use such water from Fossil Creek Reservoir through direct delivery. As required by the Agreement, North Poudre and the water commissioner were informed of the PRPA lease with Lafarge. In addition, according to the Agreement, releases of leased water to others shall be made in the months of September, October, November, February or March. Since the existing lease will also make replacements for months other than the months listed above, PRPA and North Poudre mutually agreed to lease the water for April 2011 and the water commissioner agreed to make the releases during this month. The releases will be made from Fossil Creek Reservoir to the Cache La Poudre River downstream of the estimated point of depletions from the three sites included in this combined plan. The subject lease was signed on November 15, 2010 and a copy of the lease is attached to this letter. During 2011, a lease from the City of Greeley ("Greeley") will make replacements for depletions not covered by the recharge program. A lease of 66.37 acre-feet of fully consumable water from Greeley will make replacements in June and July 2011. Also, during 2011, a lease from the LCRC will make replacements for depletions not covered by the recharge program. A lease of 161.0 acre-feet of fully consumable water from LCRC will make replacements from July 2011 through October 2011. A copy of the LCRC lease was submitted to this office with the SWSP request and is attached to this letter. The source of the replacement water will be from Gray Lakes, which can deliver water to Box Elder Creek and from there to the Cache La Poudre River. Approximately 6.6 acre-feet of water (0.25 percent per stream mile) from the Gray Lakes are estimated to be required to replace transit losses. The water storage right for the Gray Lakes owned by LCRC is not presently decreed for augmentation, therefore a change of use application for the Gray Lakes water storage right was filed with the Division 1 Water Court in case no. 2006CW276. A detailed historical consumptive use analysis was performed by TZA Water Engineers, Inc. (`TZA") in support for case no. 2006CW276. According to the analysis LCRC water rights have historically been used to provide supplemental water to irrigated lands within the Lake Canal Service area. Based upon the crop mix, irrigated acreage and water available for irrigation, TZA concluded that the Lake Canal system is water short. TZA also noted that a historical consumptive use of 65% is not uncommon for the use of supplemental reservoir water within water short ditch systems. For the purposes of this plan, the consumptive use associated with the Gray Lakes water was assumed to be 45%. This also means 55% of the delivered water constituted historical return flows, which must be maintained. Therefore, in addition to the 69.5 acre-feet of water to be released for replacement purposes, an additional 84.9 acre-feet (for a total storage release of 161.0 acre-feet) representing the return flow component shall be release from Gray Lakes to maintain the historical return flow regime. In accordance with the letter dated April 30, 2010 (copy attached) from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety ("DRMS"), all sand and gravel mining operators must comply with the requirements of the Colorado Reclamation Act and the Mineral Rules and Regulations for the protection of water resources. The April 30, 2010 letter from DRMS