2013-01-29_HYDROLOGY - M1979191 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Jared Dains Lafarge Middle Poudre Combined SWSP January 28, 2013 Page 5 of 8 responsibility to track the daily call and make arrangements as necessary to ensure this water is bypassed or otherwise delivered to the Cache la Poudre and South Platte River confluence. There is no call in the winter for the stretch of the Cache la Poudre River between these sites and the confluence with the South Platter River. Therefore as long as the South Platte River does not sweep, the Aurora lease is able to provide replacement water on behalf of the Lafarge Middle Poudre SWSP. Lafarge will obtain a lease from LCRC for 31 acre -feet of fully consumable water to make replacements for depletions not covered by the recharge program from April 2013 through June 2013. 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. A 0.25 percent per stream mile transit loss will be assessed on releases from the Gray Lakes. 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 water to be released for replacement purposes, an additional release representing the transit loss and return flow component shall be released from Gray Lakes to maintain the historical return flow regime. A monthly breakdown of the stream depletions from the mining operations as well as the replacements is shown in the attached Table 5. Long Term Augmentation In accordance with the letter dated April 30, 2010 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 depletions that result from mining related exposure of ground water. The DRMS letter identifies four approaches to satisfy this requirement. The 4 approach requires documentation to identify what water rights or other permanent water source will be dedicated to the SWSP to assure that all permanent depletions from either an unforeseen abandonment of the site by the Applicant or as a result of long term ground water exposure after completion of mining and reclamation will be replaced so as to prevent injury to other water rights In addition to any bonds posted, you have provided an affidavit dated November 23, 2011 that dedicates 5 Box Elder Ditch shares water as replacement water solely for this SWSP for as long as there are depletions at this gravel pit sites or until such time as another replacement source is obtained. A copy of the affidavit is attached to this letter. For the purposes of this SWSP, this affidavit will be accepted for the dedication of the shares; however, if the State Engineer determines that a different affidavit or dedication process is necessary to assure proper dedication of the shares, additional information may be required prior to future SWSP approvals.