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Ground water use in the vicinity of the mine is limited. Within a one-mile <br />radius of the proposed permit area, one spring and two water wells were <br />identified. The spring occurs as a seep in the Hay Gulch alluvial aquifer. <br />This spring and the two wells are located hydraulically upgradient from the <br />proposed operation. The wells, only one of which is currently accessible, are <br />used and monitored by the adjacent National King Coal operation. The unused <br />well is completed in a terrace deposit, while the production well is completed <br />in the Hay Gulch alluvium. There are no known uses of deep aquifers (Point <br />Lookout Sandstone) in the vicinity of the proposed operation. <br />Observations at the Blue Flame Coal Mine and at the adjacent King Coal Mine, <br />which extracts the same coal seam as the proposed Blue Flame operation, <br />indicate that the coal seam, as well as the overburden, are essentially dry. <br />No significant amount of water has ever been discharged from either mine, <br />Furthermore, the Point Lookout Sandstone, which is 275 feet stratigraphically <br />below the mined unit, is not hydraulically connected to the coal to be <br />extracted. <br />The Hay Gulch alluvial aquifer, which is adjacent to the proposed operation <br />averages 20 feet in depth and, according to the National King Coal, Inc., <br />findings document (February 4, 1982), has a cross sectional area of 25,200 <br />square feet, with an estimated transmissivity of 70,400 gallons per day per <br />foot (gpd/ft), The water table surface in this alluvial aquifer varies with <br />season from above ground surface to about 3 feet below the surface. The <br />direction of flow in this unconfined system is postulated to be in a <br />downstream direction, parallel to the strike of Hay Gulch. <br />Sampling of this alluvial water by National King Coal, Inc., indicates that <br />the water is high in total dissolved solids. The poor quality of the water <br />makes it unsuitable for domestic and irrigation purposes, but usable for stock <br />watering. <br />Based upon field observations, the National King Coal, Inc., findings <br />document, and the Shalako mine permit application (Sackett (dining Company, <br />File C-81-050; since withdrawn), the aquifer is recharged directly from two <br />sources: the infiltration of precipitation; and the discharge from <br />consolidated strata to the northwest which is bisected by Hay Gulch, <br />The applicant is in compliance with the requirements of this section. <br />YI. Surface Water Hydrology - Rules 2.04.5, 2.04,7, 2.05.3(4), 2.06.6(3) <br />and ~. <br />The 61ue r"lame operation is located in the Hay Gulch drainaoe. Mining <br />activities will progress to the south toward the divide between Hay and Pine <br />Gulches. Hay Gulch, to which the mine sit= is tributary, is confluent with <br />the La Plata River approximately eight miles downstream. <br />_a_ <br />