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RICHARD D. LAMM Governor ~ Ill 111111111111111 J. A. DANIELSON State Engineer DIVISION OF WATER RESOURCES Department of Natural Resources 1373 Sherman Street -Room 87 B Denver, Colorado 80203 Atlministration (303)8393587 Ground Water(303)839-3587 May 27, 1981 MEMORANDUM T0: Mined Land Reclamation, Attn: Jim McArdle FROM: Hal D. Simpson, Assistant State Engineer tl b !-~ `4 0 fit.. _ : ~! ~f., ii~Hl a ~~ ~y~~ fllli~!~=u LkPdC RC~:? ~,P'iit-1i101J v0~0. X87? Of !`~afL~r~~ `:'.~~0'!fCBS SUBJECT: Loesch Pit - Mobile Premix Company - Garfield County - #81=68, Application for Mining and Reclamation Permit As requested by your office, we have reviewed the application for a gravel operation near Silt. The applicant states that they have purchased three cfs of irrigation water from the Loesch-Crann Ditch which will be used for dust control and the proposed wash plant. It is stated that a change of use from agricultural to industrial use will meet the water needs for the mining project now and in the future. It would appear that once the court has approved this change, that the applicant has sufficient water to meet the mining needs of the project. Until this change has been approved, the applicant does not have a legal source of water for mining purposes. The applicant indicates that the reclaimed lake will be used by wildlife. Using an impoundment of water for recreational purposes, including fishery and wildlife, has been defined in CRS 1973, 37-90-103, as putting the water to a beneficial use. Since the source of water for the lake that will be formed by the gravel pit operation is ground water, we require that the applicant obtain a permit to use ground water from our office. This permit must be obtained prior to construction of the gravel pit to avoid being in violation of CRS 1973, 37-90-137. The project is located upstream of the Grand Valley irrigation water rights, a series of senior water rights which have experienced water shortages in the past, and therefore could be adversely affected by the evaporation from the reclaimed lake that will result from this project. For this reason, this office could not issue a permit to use groun3 water unless a court approved augmentation plan to protect downstream water rights from evapor- ation losses is submitted along with the application to use the ground water. Since the applicant does not have any legal source of water either before or after construction of the gravel pit, at this time, we do not recommend approval of this application.