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RULE 2 PERMITS <br /> Groundwater and surface water(description, occurrences and quality discussed in Sections 2.04.5 <br /> and 2.04.7)will not be affected for the short term or long term.Bishop and others(1982)conducted <br /> a mathematical assessment as a part of a U. S. Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining <br /> and Colorado Department of Natural Resources, Mined Land Reclamation Division study of the <br /> probable short and long term mining effects. Their report entitled, "Cumulative Hydrologic <br /> Assessment: Effects of Coal Mining on the Yampa River Basin, Moffat and Routt Counties, <br /> Colorado" concluded "off-site hydrologic impacts from the Colowyo mine will be extremely <br /> limited" (author's emphasis). Furthermore, ". . . it is concluded that for the purposes of the <br /> cumulative hydrologic assessment of this report, the Colowyo Mine will have no significant off-- <br /> site impacts to the hydrologic balance and thus not result in measurable quality and quantity <br /> changes to the Yampa River." This report in included in its entirety,in Exhibit 7A. <br /> Groundwater occurrence in the general area will not be affected as no interruption of aquifers or <br /> change in the infiltration and percolation rates, surface contours or soil conditions will occur. The <br /> groundwater discussion, measurements, and the fact that no sustained water yield is available <br /> except at great depths below the lowermost coal seam to be mined shows that groundwater <br /> resources are extremely limited and discontinuous. Groundwater-quality is extremely variable and <br /> will not be affected. <br /> Hydrological Balance <br /> General Area <br /> Based on the hydrologic balance calculations for the drainages in the general area and the fact that <br /> all runoff from the mine area is to be either diverted around the mine or retained in sedimentation <br /> ponds, no change will occur. Since the area to be mined is a fraction of the total watershed areas, <br /> the general area will not be affected at all. This conclusion is substantiated further by Bishop and <br /> others (1982) in their report "Cumulative Hydrologic Assessment: Effects of Coal Mining on the <br /> Yampa River Basin, Moffat and Routt Counties, Colorado," which has been previously discussed. <br /> Permit Area <br /> No significant effects to the hydrologic balance of Taylor,Wilson or Goodspring Creeks will occur <br /> as a result of mining. The hydrologic balance is comprised of precipitation, infiltration rates and <br /> capacities and runoff to surface streams. No change will occur to precipitation unless some major <br /> regional change occurs. It is possible, however,that infiltration rates may increase for a period of <br /> time as a result of the reclamation practices used by Colowyo Coal Company such as furrowing <br /> and revegetation. <br /> Surface water runoff will be affected by the stripping and subsequent replacing of topsoil. Runoff <br /> is precipitation less all losses that do not show up as runoff. These losses or abstractions from <br /> precipitation include interception, evaporation, surface storage, surface detention, bank storage <br /> and infiltration with subsequent evapotranspiration. Colowyo's reclamation plan includes <br /> replacing all topsoil, reconstructing all major drainage channels and re-establishing the vegetative <br /> cover. As a result,the effects of mining on interception, evaporation, surface and bank storage and <br /> iiiost otliei abstiuC tions faun pieeipitatioii will be negligible of be coillpensatoiy. <br /> Rule 2 Permits 2.04-31 Revision Date: 12/20/19 <br /> Revision No.: TR-135 <br />