Laserfiche WebLink
<br />01)2G61 <br /> <br />Paper presented at: <br />Symposium on Water Resources and Fossil Fuel Production, <br />International Water Resources Association <br />DUsseldorf, Germany, September 7-8, 1976 <br /> <br />COAL-RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES, RESIDUALS MANAGEMENT, AND IMPACTS <br />ON THE WATER RESOURCES OF THE YAMPA RIVER BASIN, COLORADO AND WYOMING <br /> <br />Timothy Doak Steele <br />U,S. Geological'Survey <br />Lakewood, Colorado, U.S.A. <br /> <br />ABSTRACT <br /> <br />Development of coal resources in the Yampa River basin in the SQuth- <br />ern Rocky Mountains of the United States will have a variety of effects on <br />available water resources. These involve both direct effects caused by <br />,coal extraction, processing, transport, and conversion techniques utilized <br />or proposed for the'region and also indirect effects associated with re- <br />gional economic growth. Impacts from both types of effects involve water <br />resources of the basin in terms 'of water withdrawals, consumptive use, and <br />assimilative capacities of discharged residuals (that is, noneconomic by- <br />products). A regional residuals-management analysis involves assessing <br />mass and energy balances of the primary economic activities, as well as an <br />economic and technical evaluation of alternative strategies of treatment <br />and modification of residuals discharged to the environment from various <br />sources. Constraints on viable alternatives include considerations of <br />(1) capital and operating costs of facilities, (2) treatment technologies, <br />(3) water rights, and (4) environmental standards. Approaches and results <br />to date of residuals-management and environmental-modeling techniques are <br />described for evaluating water-resources impacts of coal-'related develop- <br />ment in the Yampa River basin, Colorado and Wyoming. <br /> <br />INTRODUCTION <br /> <br />The accelerated rates of coal mining and conversion of coal to other <br />energy forms in the western United States may have substantial impacts on <br />water resources, environmental amenities, and traditional socioeconomic <br />conditions. As an example of a region undergoing such development, the <br />Yampa River basin, an area,of about 21,000 square kilometres (fig. I), is <br />located in northwestern Colorado and south-central Wyoming along the west- <br />ern slope of the southern Rocky Mountains in the United States. The basin <br />has abundant energy resources, including coal, oil and gas, oil shale, <br />uranium, and geothermal springs; however, near-term expanded development <br />largely will involve mining and util ization of strippable coal resources. <br /> <br />Coal in the Yampa River basin is bituminous or subbituminous, and a <br />typical coal seam will average 3 to 4 metres in thickness and be found <br />under about 17 to 30 metres of overburden (I. C. James and others, written <br />commun., 1976). Other characteristics of coal in the Yampa basin are as <br />follows: moisture content ranging from 10 to 20 percent, ash content <br /> <br />___it _d <br />