SLV sub-district deadlines near

VALLEY — Under the Division of Water Resources proposed groundwater rules which were filed with the court in September of 2015, non-exempt wells in Division No. 3 will be required to either join a subdistrict, obtain an individual augmentation plan or cease the non-exempt use of the well.

It is very important for non-exempt well owners to understand their options under these proposed rules. The Rio Grande Water Conservation District is finishing up the process of collecting petitions from those non-exempt well owners who wish to include their well in a subdistrict in either the San Luis Creek or Saguache Response Areas.

Over the past year, the district has gathered petitions from well owners in the San Luis Creek Response Area located in the Moffat area of Saguache County (Subdistrict No. 4) who wanted to be included in this subdistrict. The district’s staff is ready to present the collected petitions to the board of directors to ask their approval to file the petitions with the District Court in Saguache to form Subdistrict No. 4.

The district’s staff has attempted to make contact with every non-exempt well owner on file to discuss the well owner’s options under the State’s Groundwater Rules. Anyone with a non-exempt well which is not already included on a petition should contact the district as soon as possible. Staff will need to prepare the necessary documents for signatures so it is important that well owners contact the district immediately if they wish to be included.

The district’s staff will be presenting the petitions for Subdistrict No. 4 to the district’s board of directors on April 14. Anyone wanting to be included in this subdistrict must have their petitions in to the district before April 12th so they can be included in the presentation to the board.

The Saguache Response Area (Subdistrict No. 5) petition drive is also nearing the end. District staff is sending letters to those non-exempt well owners who have not completed a petition to join the subdistrict to offer them the opportunity to be included. Any non-exempt well owner in the Saguache area who has not received a phone call or a letter from the district regarding their non-exempt well should contact the district’s office immediately to discuss their options.

The district is ready to move forward in filing for the formation of Subdistrict No. 5 and so the district needs all the petitions for the Saguache Subdistrict returned to the district office by April 15 so the staff can begin verifying them and preparing them for presentation to the board of directors.

More information on these subdistricts can be obtained by contacting the Rio Grande Water Conservation District at (719) 589-6301 or by visiting the website at RGWCD.org.