From email from the State Engineer’s office (Kathryn H. Radke):
On April 30, 2013, State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved the Annual Replacement Plan for Subdistrict No.1.
This approval will be filed with the Division No. 3 Water Court later today.
All documents are located on DWR’s website at the following location:
http://water.state.co.us/DivisionsOffices/Div3RioGrandeRiverBasin/Pages/Subdistrict1ARP.aspxNote: these documents can also be downloaded from the DWR’s FTP site:
ftp://dwrftp.state.co.us/dwr/Annual%20Replacement%20Plans/2013/Subdistrict%201
From The Pueblo Chieftain (Matt Hildner):
State Engineer Dick Wolfe approved a water replacement plan Tuesday aimed at mitigating harm from groundwater pumping in the north-central San Luis Valley.
Wolfe’s approval made few changes to the proposal from Subdistrict No. 1, which is required to lay out what sources of water it will use to replace water lost by the pumping of nearly 3,400 wells in the subdistrict’s boundaries.
He did bar the use of 86.5 acre-feet of water from Ruby Reservoir southwest of Creede until a substitute water supply plan is submitted to and approved by his office.
But that still leaves the subdistrict with a pool of more than 7,500 acre feet of water it can release into the Rio Grande to mitigate the injury to surface water rights holders.
A state computer model estimated that pumping would cause 5,389 acre-feet in depletions that the subdistrict must replace.