2014-04-25_HYDROLOGY - C2009087 - Laserfiche WebLink

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p body Peabody Sage Creek Mining, LLC 36600 Routt County Rd. 27 PO Box 250 Hayden, CO. 81639 (970) 276 -7001 April 23, 2014 RECEIVED J' OYV-) Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Water Quality Control Division APR 2 5 2014 Permits and Enforcement Section 4300 Cherry Creek Drive South Division of Reclamation, Denver, CO 80246 -1530 Mining & Safety RE: Quarterly DMRs for CPDS Permit No. CO- 0048275, Peabody Sage Creek Mine Dear Sir or Madam: Pursuant to the quarterly reporting requirements contained in Colorado Discharge Permit CO- 0048275 for the Peabody Sage Creek Mine (PSCM), enclosed please find the first quarter 2014 discharge monitoring reports for Outfalls 002, 003, and 004. In this quarter, all three Outfalls discharged continuously. One excursion of the DMR limit for total recoverable iron occurred during the first quarter of 2014, and an explanation of this occurrence follows. The sample collected at Outfall 004 on January 8, 2014 showed a total recoverable iron value of 1,550 ug/L, which is greater than the DMR limit of 1,000 ug/L. This information was relayed to Kelly Morgan of the Water Quality Control Division in an email from me on February 12, 2014, the same day that I became aware of the excursion. That same day, PSCM instructed ACZ laboratories to rerun total recoverable iron on the remnant sample, and the result of the second analysis was 1,540 mg/L confirming the original analytical result. On February 12, 2014, I talked with Chris Miller, PSCM's contractor that collects NPDES samples during the winter months and asked if he noted any conditions at Pond 004 that may have contributed to the excursion. Chris said no unusual conditions were noted at the pond when he collected the sample on January 8, 2014 except for some minor debris in the discharge pipe that may have been causing some constriction of flow. Chris said he collected the sample first, and then removed a small amount of vegetation that had accumulated in the discharge pipe. The accumulated vegetation may have contributed to the high total recoverable iron value. My review of historical total recoverable data collected at Outfall 004 shows that the last excursion of the total recoverable iron permit limit occurred on April 7, 2005 more than seven years ago. Total recoverable iron values measured at Outfall 004 in February (110 ug/L) and March (120 ug/L) of 2014 were well under the DMR effluent limit of 1,000 ug/L.