Water Resources Report



Water Resources Report

For

Stratmoor Hills Water District

Prepared for:

Stratmoor Hills Water District

1811 “B” Street

Colorado Springs, Co. 80906

By:

Gary L. Steen, P.E.

487 Anaconda Dr.

Colorado Springs, Co. 80919

719-598-9913

December 2007

Rev. December 2010

Rev. April 2011

Rev. October 2012

Rev. January 2016

Background:

Stratmoor Hills Water District (Stratmoor) is generally located at the southern edge of the City of Colorado Springs and presently provides service to approximately 3000 customers. Stratmoor provides water to property on both sides of Interstate 25, primarily southwest of Highway 85/87. The District services primarily single family residential customers with some multi-family and commercial customer users as well.

Water Sources:

Stratmoor has two (2) existing augmentation plans/decrees filed with the State of Colorado. One decree is referenced as Consolidated Case No. W-3935 and W-4237 dated December 9, 1975 and the other decree is referenced as Case No. 91CW24 dated March 20, 1995. Both of these decrees identify by number and legal description eleven (11) wells that could be pumped or drilled by the District as direct sources of potable water. The decrees also identify augmentation sources that will be discussed in greater detail later in this letter report that will be provided to offset depletions to the Widefield aquifer when these wells are pumped by Stratmoor.

The second source of water for Stratmoor, and the source most utilized today, is the Frying Pan Arkansas water (Fry-Ark). This Fry-Ark water is considered to be supplemental water for Stratmoor, and not used as their primary source of water. Stratmoor is a member of the Southeastern Colorado Conservancy District (SE District) and is able to purchase Fountain Valley Authority (FVA) water from the Pueblo Reservoir. This FVA water is commonly referred to as “Project” water, and is allocated yearly by the Bureau of Reclamation through the SE District. The amount of water available each year to the FVA members is dependant on the amount of snow pack and spring runoff into the upper Arkansas River. The Fry-Ark water does not require any augmentation by Stratmoor.

The third source of water for Stratmoor are the sewered return flow credits attributable to a portion of the “Project” water purchased and used by the Stratmoor, then tracked by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) through their waste water treatment facility, and finally tracked down Fountain Creek back into Pueblo Reservoir by means of the Fountain Creek Transit Loss Model. CSU treats the waste water generated by Stratmoor and is the recipient of the Fry-Ark water generated by the District. These credits are stored in Pueblo Reservoir in an “If and When” account administered by the Bureau of Reclamation, and then transferred over to the “Project” water account for use by Stratmoor when the “If and When” account becomes full. This third source of water enables Stratmoor to maximize this “Project” water to its fullest extent at minimal cost. These sewered return flow credits are available to Stratmoor from March 16 through November 14 of each year.

A fourth source of water for available to Stratmoor on a yearly basis is excess “If and When Storage” water purchased from the Pueblo Water Board in the amount of approximately 400 acre feet. This water is exchanged into Stratmoor’s “If and When” account when called for by Stratmoor and once again administered by the Bureau of Reclamation. The same amount of water will be purchased from the Pueblo Water Board each year and used to help increase Stratmoor’s own Project storage account in Pueblo Reservoir for coming years. This water has been purchased fairly inexpensively and has been utilized by Stratmoor to supplement their water demand.

Augmentation Sources:

As previously stated, Stratmoor has two (2) existing augmentation plans/decrees filed with the State of Colorado. Both of these decrees list the augmentation water owned, or available to Stratmoor to be used to replace water withdrawn from the Widefield aquifer to offset pumping of the decreed wells. Augmentation water owned by Stratmoor is as follows and as stated in the decrees:

Laughlin Ditch No. 10 – 5.616 cfs (total decree is for 9.35 cfs)

Laughlin Ditch No. 17 – 1.736 cfs (total decree is for 6.42 cfs)

70 shares of Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. (FMIC) (sold)

40 AF per year of CSU Transmountain Return Flow Water (Jan 1-Mar 15)

The Laughlin Ditch rights, per the above referenced decrees, are presently left in Fountain Creek, and run no risk of abandonment based on language in these decrees. Stratmoor owns 38.7961% of both the Number 10 and 17 Laughlin Ditch rights as stated above. These Laughlin Ditch rights were transferred, by the referenced decrees, to the FMIC headgate as an alternate point of diversion. However, FMIC has never accepted these Laughlin Ditch rights into their ditch system and they remain in Fountain Creek as long as the priority system makes them available.

The 70 FMIC shares of stock are no longer being diverted through the irrigation company’s Spring Creek Augmentation Station which is located approximately one (1) mile downstream from the FMIC headgate on Fountain Creek. These 70 shares, per the referenced decrees, were to “recharge” the Widefield aquifer in the general vicinity of the Little Johnson Reservoir site. Because this site is no longer active from a “recharge” standpoint, the State Engineer’s Office allowed these 70 shares to be diverted through the Spring Creek station and credit given to Stratmoor for augmentation purposes. As stated above, these 70 shares were sold by the District in 2009.

The 70 shares of FMIC were removed from Stratmoor’s decree under Water Court Case No. 08CW44 and are no longer providing Stratmoor any augmentation credit for their two (2) augmentation plans.

The 40 acre feet (AF) annually purchased from CSU from their transmountain return flows is available only from January 1 through March 15 of each year. This water is administered by CSU on a daily basis and is tracked in the Fountain Creek Transit Loss Model, likewise on a daily basis. Stratmoor is then provided the credit for this augmentation water to offset their well pumping operations.

Water Usage:

Stratmoor has been pumping primarily two (2) wells over the past few years, Well’s No. 4 and No. 10 respectively. Based on previous year’s records, theses two (2) wells have averaged approximately 100 AF – 400 AF annually. This pumping would then require the same estimated amount of approximately 100 AF – 400 AF of augmentation water to replace these depletions to the aquifer. As previously discussed in this report, the 40 AF from CSU is available from January 1 through March 15 of every year. The Laughlin Ditch rights, in a letter from Gary Thompson with W.W. Wheeler dated March 19, 1996, stated that this water right had a consumptive use value of 529 AF per year. Combined, these augmentation sources for Stratmoor would equal 569 AF (40 AF + 529 AF) to offset a maximum of 400 AF of depletions.

Stratmoor’s water usage has been fairly consistent over the last twelve years.

2003. 806.13 AF

2004. 729.73 AF

2005. 737.57 AF

2006. 725. 66 AF

2007. 718.61 AF

2008. 725.25 AF

2009. 629.30 AF

2010. 885.25 AF

2011. 742.4 AF

2012. 712.5 AF

2013. 661.9 AF

2014. 651.8 AF

2015. 586.4 AF

In 2006, the District’s water usage of 259.21 AF came from the pumping of wells No. 4 and No. 10 and the remaining 466.45 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2007, only 127.8 AF came from the pumping of well No. 4 and the remaining 590.8 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2008, 157.3 AF came from pumping of the wells and the remaining 568.0 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2009, 78.47 AF came from the pumping of the wells and the remaining 550.83 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2010, the split has been almost 50/50 for well usage vs. Fry-Ark water, 464.7 AF came from well pumping and 420.6 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2011, 225.1 AF came from the pumping of the wells and the remaining 517.4 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2012, 172.7 AF came from pumping and the remaining 539.8 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2013, 126.8 AF came from pumping and the remaining 535.1 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2014, 193.3 AF came from pumping and the remaining 458.4 AF came from Fry-Ark water. In 2015, 81.5 AF came from pumping with the remaining 504.8 AF came from Fry-Ark water. With the limited usage of the wells over the past few years, there has been a limited need for the augmentation water.

There are pumping limitations within the decrees, namely 1,270 AF maximum within any given year. Also, there is the Widefield Aquifer Stipulation that has put a maximum cap of 700 AF per year of pumping on Stratmoor without recharging the aquifer. Obviously, Stratmoor has not exceeded this maximum pumping allowance based on their historical pumping records over these past few years. There is sufficient well water available with ample augmentation sources to replace the depletions created by the pumping of several decreed wells if Stratmoor should ever need to pump them.

Water Demand:

The undeveloped land that lies on the west side of Interstate 25, south of “B” Street, and north of South Academy Blvd. is now under development into commercial, residential, multi-family, a school site, and open space area. The District will provide water service to this project. The commercial site will comprise approximately 54.6 acres in size with two large box stores plus smaller retail stores. The single and multi-family sites will comprise approximately 52.4 acres in size for a total of approximately 711 dwelling units. The school site is approximately 8.1 acres in size and the open space comprises approximately 39.4 acres for parks and drainage facilities. Based on these projections, it is estimated that this project will require approximately 503,840 gallons per day, or approximately 1.5 acre foot of water per day. The daily breakdown was estimated as follows:

Commercial Site:

- Large Box Store – 188,640 gals/day

- Second Box Store – 187,200 gals/day

- Smaller Retail Stores – 12,000 gals/day

Multi-Family/Townhome Site:

- 711 Units – 106,500 gals/day

School Site (Elementary/Middle School)

- 600 Students/Staff - 9,500 gals/day

Summary:

Stratmoor is in an envious position of having an adequate supply of water for its District. The estimated water demand from the proposed development project will not burden Stratmoor’s existing water supply. The Fry-Ark water supply has been a dependable source of supplemental water every year as long as the central Colorado Mountains continue to receive an average winter snow pack. With the District utilizing their return flow credits from their Fry-Ark water and maximizing the use of this water resource, they are capturing and utilizing this water source to its fullest extent possible. Likewise, the purchase of excess “If and When” water from the Pueblo Water Board during times when the District can increase their own Project Storage account only strengthens their water resource for years to come. The use of the Fry-Ark water, sewered return flow water, and “If and When” water from the Pueblo Water Board does not require augmentation replacement by the District, and although seasonal for some of this water, does provide a fairly inexpensive source of water to the District. Stratmoor’s wells will continue to provide a reliable source of water to the District with more than an adequate source of augmentation water available to replace the depletions caused by the pumping of these wells when needed.

I hope the information provided in this letter report is adequate for the needs of the District. I appreciate the opportunity to be of service to the District. Please call with any questions or concerns.

Respectfully submitted,

Gary L. Steen, P.E.

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