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<br />032437 <br /> <br />Because ceal seams act as aquifers in the basin, substantial areal strip- <br />ping ef'the majer seams lecated at er near the land surface may affect the <br />local ground-water regime by reducing recharge to. downgradient streams~ De- <br />pending upen availabil ity ef data and eperational models, seme form of quanti- <br />tative analys.is wi 11 be attempted of lecal izedground-water systems in exist- <br />ing or petential mining-affected areas. Transpert of conservative contami- <br />nants will be investigated, in view ef possible geechemical changes occurring <br />from the stripping of overburden' or the removal of coal strata. A related <br />concern is the pract'ice ef depositing waste materials in old mine pits, Fer <br />example, fly ash from the Hayden power-generation plant presently is disposed <br />ef in the nearby Peabody Seneca mine and covered with stripped everburden, <br /> <br />Water Qua I i ty <br /> <br />By document i ng the var i ous a I ternata cea 1- reseu rce deve lopment" propes'a 1 s <br />fer the Yampa River basin, specific areas ef petential environmental stress <br />wi 11 be del ineated fer analysis. In this regard, approximately ene-:quarter of <br />the 85 areal recennaissance sites (Steele and ethers, 1976) will be sampled <br />quarterly fer 12 to. 18 menths, Interpretation of these data will help to In- <br />dicate continuing data needs and to. determine model ing appl ications. <br /> <br />A majer thrust ef the bas in assessment invelves determining the extent to. <br />which alternative residuals-management plans are likely to affect water quality, <br />Interactions among envirenmental centrols ef air, water, and land resources <br />need to be evaluated to assess prejected effects en. water-quality cenditiens, <br />Discussed belew are several water-quality modeling efferts propesed for inco.r- <br />poration into the basin assessment, In severa.l cases"modellng alternatives <br />are presented. Further evaluatien ef these will be required after more-detail- <br />ed specifications on desired modeling accuracies and refinement have been made. <br /> <br />Dissolved Oxygen, Biechemical Oxygen Demand, <br />and Selected Nutrients <br /> <br />For the Yampa River mainstem near areas ef prejected large populatien <br />grewths--primarily Steamboat Springs--an analysis ef the dissolved oxygen (DO), <br />biechemical oxygen demand (BOD), and several censervative substances wil I be <br />made fer present and prejected waste loadings ef the stream. A precedure used <br />in a previous study in Arkansas (Jennings and Bryant, 1973) will becensidered. <br />A steady-state segmented DO model similar to. the model develeped by Bauer and <br />Jennings (1975) is being applied in the Yampa River basin ~ssessment. <br /> <br />As pointed out by Bauer and Jennings (1975), it is necessary to. first cal- <br />ibrate the medel near the reference 7-day 10-year lew flew, Data fer DO, BOD, <br />selected nutrient species, temperature, specific conductance, and pH are need- <br />ed fer the medel (Bauer and Jennings, 1975), These data need to. be collected <br />ever a 24-hour cycle of a lew-flow period, Discharge and stream-geometry data <br />also are required by the model, For, the Yampa River mainstem, all the requir- <br />ed data for a mode ling ana I ys is were not read i 1 Y ava i 1 ab I e, To supp Iythe nec- <br />essary data for a waste assimilative capacity medel ing analysis a field data <br />cellection was made during September 1975 for a reach of the Yampa River be- <br />tween Steamboat Springs and Hayden (Steele and ethers, 1976), After the mede I <br /> <br />19 <br />