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Peabody Sage Creek Mine July 2014 <br />SL -3 Phase III Bond Release Request <br />B)Instream Numeric Standards (CWQCC Regulation 33) <br />PSCM discharges surface runoff and spoil leachate into Segment 13b (Fish Creek and tributaries) <br />of the Yampa River based on Colorado Water Quality Control Commission (CWQCC) <br />Regulation 33. PSCM is required to monitor 17 parameters (as shown in Table 5) in that segment <br />per its CDPS and CDRMS permits. Table 6 provides a statistical summary of the water quality <br />for years 2011 to 2013 for PSCM's NPDES Outfall NPDES4 and Stream Sites SSC6, SSC10, <br />SSF11 and SSF13. Table 7 provides a comparison of those data with the Segment 13b standards. <br />This Paradox database generated table does not include the units of concentration (mg /l or ug /1) <br />for each parameter. The units used for each parameter are the same as those listed on the <br />standards table (Table 5) and are also the same as those used in the water quality statistical <br />summary reports. <br />The frequency column in Table 7 indicates the following: <br />1. Exceedances above the Method Detection Limit (MDL) (uncensored), <br />2. exceedances between the MDL and the Practical Quantitation Level (PQL), <br />3. the number of sample values below the MDL where the MDL was higher than the <br />standard (censored), <br />4. and the total number of samples. <br />Data contained in Table 7 indicates the total recoverable (TR) iron standard, 1.0 mg /l was <br />exceeded a total of seven times (out of ten samples) at Fish Creek Sites SSF11 and SSF13. High <br />TR iron values are normally associated with high total suspended solids. No excursions of this <br />standard occurred upstream at SSC10 (Cow Camp Creek, NPDES4 basin), SSB12 (Bond Creek, <br />NPDES8 basin), or NPDES discharges (NPDES8 at Seneca and NPDES4 at the PSCM). <br />Therefore, these excursions on Fish Creek are not caused by either mining operation. <br />The nitrite standard, 0.05 mg /1, was exceeded once at Site SSF13 with a value of 0.06 mg /1. Site <br />SSF13 exists on Fish Creek downstream of the confluences of Cow Camp and Bond Creeks. The <br />nitrite value at Site SSF11 (Fish Creek upstream of the confluences of Cow Camp and Bond <br />Creeks) from a sample collected on the same day (6/14/11) was 0.04 mg /1. No excursions of <br />this standard occurred at SSC10, SSB12, NPDES4 or NPDES8 discharges. Therefore, this <br />26 <br />