2022-08-25_PERMIT FILE - C1981012 (19)

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In the spring of 1984, WFC completed a water user survey for the permit and surrounding area. The survey included wells, windmills, and stock ponds within a one -mile radius of the permit boundaries for the New Elk and Golden Eagle mines, and supplemented the inventory that had been previously compiled by CF &I (Exhibit 11). Information from the WFC and CF &I surveys has been updated for the current permit revision with water well data from the Colorado Department of Water Resources. The updated inventory reflects all permitted wells within a one -mile radius of the permit area as of December, 2010 as well as the stock ponds and windmills identified in the previous surveys. The updated groundwater user inventory is presented in Table 10. Resource locations are presented on the updated Map 8— Regional Hydrology. According to the 1984 survey, the water supply for the city of Trinidad is the primary source of water for domestic use east of the North Fork of the Purgatoire River. The city water originates from North Lake and Monument Lake and is piped via an aqueduct in a southeasterly direction along the North Fork and then east along the north side of Highway 12. With the exception of two residents (Wells 15 and 16), everyone contacted in 1984 used city water for domestic supply. City water was not available west of the North Fork and those users relied on well water. Since 1984, a number of wells have been installed within one mile of the permit boundary. The wells include 14 bedrock wells that produce from the Raton Formation and 17 wells that are completed in alluvium (Table 10 and Map 8). Current totals for wells and other sources that access groundwater are presented in Table 11. Table 11. Summary of Groundwater Users /Access Points within One Mile of the Permit Boundary Groundwater Source Number Alluvial water supplies 29 Bedrock water supplies 15 Unknown water supplies 10 Alluvial monitoring wells 7 Bedrock monitoring wells 3 The well inventory and user survey indicates that there are two primary groundwater sources in the study area. The first source consists of aluviaferan .s ri. g associated with the Purgatoire River and its tributaries. The second source is e o. ck�.�roundwaterfrom the Raton Formation. Alluvial wells are typically less than 100 ft deep and access groundwater that is hydraulically connected to surface water. Bedrock wells range from about 30 to 513 ft in depth and produce groundwater from poorly interconnected zones of limited areal extent. The USGS describes the groundwater system in Raton Formation Aquifer as being heterogeneous and anisotropic with individual beds having limited lateral continuity (Watts, 2006)1. Alluvial 1 Watts, K., R., (2006), "Hydrostratigraphic Framework of the Raton, Vermejo, and Trinidad Aquifers in the Raton Basin, Las Animas County, Colorado," United States Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2006- 5129. TR -56 2.04 -23 Revised 1/31/11