Water Rights Acquisition & Plans for Augmentation: Sand & Gravel Mines
Mesa, Montrose, La Plata, Garfield, Moffat, Eagle, & Pitkin Counties, Colorado
Western Water & Land provides the technical services required to obtain and manage water rights in connection with sand and gravel mining operations throughout Water Divisions 4, 5, 6, 7. These projects are commonly initiated by working with our clients and their legal counsels to develop the optimum strategies for management of water associated with mine operations. Strategies are developed based on mine location; local public concerns; mine permit constraints and obligations; potential ecosystem impacts, including wetlands; depth of sand and gravel deposit; hydrologic conditions (depth to groundwater, aquifer thickness, hydraulic properties); operational constraints and periods; mining method (dewatering or wet mining); and current policies and requirements of the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR).
Western Water & Land typically prepares hydrology reports to document the hydrologic evaluations performed to support the applications. Each report is tailored to the specific needs and requirements of a given mining operation. The reports are relatively straightforward for mines located in areas that are not over-appropriated, typically documenting the general mine plan, demand calculations and water usage estimates, evaporation rates from the resulting pit lake, well permit information, and location of operations and any diversions structures associated with the mine; maps depicting mine and diversion locations are prepared using ArcGIS™ and USGS topographic base maps and aerial photographs. The reports include the additional details required to support requests for approval of plans for augmentation for mine operations located in over-appropriated basins and reaches. The additional details commonly include estimation of depletions attributed to evaporation, dewatering operations, and pit refilling; stream depletion modeling; and replacement source identification and description. In many cases, replacement is provided at least in part by the retirement of historically irrigated lands. When lands are being retired from irrigation, report details are expanded to include calculation of historic irrigation credits based historic consumptive use analysis, irrigation return estimation (both surface return and deep percolation), and timing of accretions to the river in response to historic irrigation return.
We commonly use our expertise and understanding of water rights administration to help our aggregate mining clients meet water rights challenges confronting their industry. Our solutions include use of a “connected lakes” approach to minimize the depletion impacts attributed to refilling excavations following active dewatering operations and timing dewatering/refilling operations through consultation with the DWR to minimize impacts and replacement water obligations. Western Water & Land used flow data collected by the USGS to support the development of a technically defensible call scenario for the Gunnison River Basin which has been accepted by DWR and greatly reduces replacement obligations.
Mesa, Montrose, La Plata, Garfield, Moffat, Eagle, & Pitkin Counties, Colorado
Western Water & Land provides the technical services required to obtain and manage water rights in connection with sand and gravel mining operations throughout Water Divisions 4, 5, 6, 7. These projects are commonly initiated by working with our clients and their legal counsels to develop the optimum strategies for management of water associated with mine operations. Strategies are developed based on mine location; local public concerns; mine permit constraints and obligations; potential ecosystem impacts, including wetlands; depth of sand and gravel deposit; hydrologic conditions (depth to groundwater, aquifer thickness, hydraulic properties); operational constraints and periods; mining method (dewatering or wet mining); and current policies and requirements of the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR).
Western Water & Land typically prepares hydrology reports to document the hydrologic evaluations performed to support the applications. Each report is tailored to the specific needs and requirements of a given mining operation. The reports are relatively straightforward for mines located in areas that are not over-appropriated, typically documenting the general mine plan, demand calculations and water usage estimates, evaporation rates from the resulting pit lake, well permit information, and location of operations and any diversions structures associated with the mine; maps depicting mine and diversion locations are prepared using ArcGIS™ and USGS topographic base maps and aerial photographs. The reports include the additional details required to support requests for approval of plans for augmentation for mine operations located in over-appropriated basins and reaches. The additional details commonly include estimation of depletions attributed to evaporation, dewatering operations, and pit refilling; stream depletion modeling; and replacement source identification and description. In many cases, replacement is provided at least in part by the retirement of historically irrigated lands. When lands are being retired from irrigation, report details are expanded to include calculation of historic irrigation credits based historic consumptive use analysis, irrigation return estimation (both surface return and deep percolation), and timing of accretions to the river in response to historic irrigation return.
We commonly use our expertise and understanding of water rights administration to help our aggregate mining clients meet water rights challenges confronting their industry. Our solutions include use of a “connected lakes” approach to minimize the depletion impacts attributed to refilling excavations following active dewatering operations and timing dewatering/refilling operations through consultation with the DWR to minimize impacts and replacement water obligations. Western Water & Land used flow data collected by the USGS to support the development of a technically defensible call scenario for the Gunnison River Basin which has been accepted by DWR and greatly reduces replacement obligations.