2012-01-23_HYDROLOGY - M1977439 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Jared Dains Lafarge Upper Poudre Combined SWSP January 11, 2012 Page 4 use of the 5.75 shares was determined to be 122.8 acre -feet. The 5.75 shares will be diverted into the recharge pit each irrigation season (including consumptive use and return flows). The applicant is required to maintain the return flow obligations from the changed use of the 5.75 shares of the Taylor and Gill Ditch as described in this plan. The attached Table 3 shows the farm headgate delivery of 5.75 Taylor and Gill Ditch shares. Lafarge West, Inc. ( "Lafarge ") plans to divert the full farm headgate delivery of 240.31 acre -feet into the recharge site each year. A total of 181.87 acre -feet were diverted into the recharge site between April 2011 and October 2011 (Table 4). Lafarge also had leases with the City of Greeley, the Tri- Districts, Platte River Power Authority (PRPA), and the Lake Canal Reservoir Company (LCRC) to make replacements during months where the recharge credits were not sufficient. A supplemental lease was acquired from LCRC to make a release in May 2011, and a supplemental lease was acquired from PRPA to make a release in July, August, and September of 2011. A copy of the supplemental water leases were submitted to this office with this SWSP renewal request. Lafarge plans to divert the full farm headgate delivery of the 5.75 Taylor and Gill Ditch shares starting in April 2012. Accordingly, the monthly timing of 240.31 acre -feet (full farm headgate delivery of the 5.75 shares) was used in the recharge model to determine the recharge accretion credits for 2012. The lagged accretions to the Cache la Poudre River from past and projected recharge are estimated to total 227.62 acre -feet for this approval period (includes carry over from recharge in previous years). During the months of April, May, June, and July 2012, recharge accretions are insufficient to replace all lagged stream depletions. During these months, a lease of 36.0 acre -feet of fully consumable water from LCRC will make replacements for depletions not covered by the recharge accretions. 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. 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 36.0 acre -feet of water to be released for replacement purposes, an additional 44.0 acre - feet representing the return flow component shall be release from Gray Lakes to maintain the historical return flow regime. Additionally, approximately 3.4 acre —feet of water (0.25% per stream mile loss) from the Gray Lakes will be released to account for transit loss. In total, 83.4 acre -feet will be release by LCRC. 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 requires that you provide information to DRMS to demonstrate you can replace long term injurious stream