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valley floor. Loadout operations on the colluvial slope will not physically impact <br /> farming operations on the alluvial flood plain adjacent to the permit area. <br /> Groundwater is not present in the colluvium in the permit area and surface water <br /> from above the adjacent flood plain will be diverted around the disturbed area. No <br /> future impact which might interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on the flood <br /> plain is proposed. Thus, operations at Terror Creek would not interrupt, <br /> discontinue, or preclude farming on previously undisturbed portions of the alluvial <br /> valley floor. <br /> Pursuant to Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(ii), the Division finds that the surface coal mining <br /> operations would not materially damage the quality and quantity of water in <br /> surface and underground water systems that supply those alluvial valley floors or <br /> portions of alluvial valley floors. Given the small size (13.6 acres) and nature of <br /> the disturbance, no significant hydrologic impacts are anticipated. There is <br /> minimal potential for the quality of water supplied to the alluvial valley floor via <br /> the Deer Trail Ditch or the Fire Mountain Canal to be affected. The canals are <br /> located upslope from the disturbed area. Irrigation runoff and storm runoff will be <br /> diverted around the disturbance and disturbed flows will be routed through a <br /> sediment pond prior to discharge. The applicant has obtained water rights to Deer <br /> Trail Ditch water totaling 300 acre-feet per year and anticipated a maximum need <br /> of approximately 44 acre-feet per year when the loadout was operational. 44 acre- <br /> feet is approximately .01% of the mean annual flow of the North Fork. <br /> The applicant's discussion of probable hydrologic consequences has identified no <br /> anticipated changes in surface water quality. All runoff from disturbed surface <br /> areas drains through an approved sediment control system. No material damage to <br /> the quality of surface waters supplied to the alluvial valley floor is anticipated due <br /> to sediment control at the site and the fact that the ditch, which supplies the AVF, <br /> is located upslope of the disturbance. <br /> There is a slight potential for water quality degradation to occur in the alluvial <br /> aquifer immediately down gradient of the loadout pad as a result of percolation of <br /> degraded water through the colluvium. This potential is considered insignificant <br /> for the following reasons. First, the small amount of degraded percolation water <br /> that would infiltrate would be rapidly diluted by existing water in the system. <br /> Second, the amount of percolation water would be minimized by the small size of <br /> the contributing drainage area(less than 15 acres) and the fact that the compacted <br /> surface of the pad will favor runoff over infiltration. <br /> Pursuant to Rules 4.24.2(1) and(2), the Division finds that surface coal mining and <br /> reclamation operations would be conducted to preserve, throughout the mining and <br /> reclamation process, the essential hydrologic functions of alluvial valley floors not <br /> within the affected area and would be conducted to reestablish the essential <br /> hydrologic functions of the alluvial valley floor within the affected area. As stated <br /> previously, operations are not expected to materially damage the quantity and <br /> quality of surface and ground water that supply the alluvial valley floor <br /> - 21 - <br />