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<br />"'.""'. <br /> <br />c:; <br />C\1 <br />l. ,., <br /> <br />carbonate and sulfate ions in water per- <br /> <br />colattng through the broken spoils <br /> <br />materials. The magnitude of these changes <br /> <br />is expected to be negligible. Because <br />of the wide variation in the quality <br /> <br />of both surface and froundwater in <br />the area, minor changes in water quality <br /> <br />will likely prove to be unimportant. <br /> <br />There is apparently comparatively little <br /> <br />groundwater in the overburden to be <br /> <br />removed from the mine; only 3 percent <br /> <br />of the holes drilled during preliminary <br /> <br />drilling to estimate reserves contained <br /> <br />flowing water, and this flowed at rates <br /> <br />of only 60 - 180 gallons per hour. Only <br /> <br />three surface discharges were found <br /> <br />during the ecological investigations of <br /> <br />the Williams Fork Mountains, and these <br /> <br />were similarly insignificant. Of the <br /> <br />three, two supplied small amounts of <br /> <br />water for livestock. Minor aquifers <br /> <br />lying above the Twentymile Sandstone <br /> <br />are thought to discharge very small <br /> <br />amounts of water into the Yampa. The two <br /> <br />spring-fed streams presently used for <br /> <br />-146- <br />