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<br />'. INTRODUCTION <br />1 Seneca Coal Company (hereinafter "SCC") is developing the Yoast Mine in Routt <br />County, Colorado, about 10 miles southeast of Hayden. The Yoast Mine will be a surface coal <br />mine using conventional dragline methods. Water will be required for domestic and industrial <br />' purposes at the mine site and will be developed from ground water and surface water <br />sources. Also, ground water will be intercepted by the excavation in the overburden material <br />and coal seams. Such water will be pumped from the excavated areas, decanted in ponds <br />and released to the stream system or used for industrial purposes. <br />SCC plans to begin mining at the Yoast Mine in 1996 and to extract coal through 2010 <br />' (15 yearsl. The coal will be hauled by truck from the mine to a rail load-out facility or to the <br />Hayden Station Powerplant. Reclamation of the excavated areas will coincide with the mining <br />activities. Revegetation of the disturbed areas will not require irrigation, based on SCC's <br />experience of reclamation at its Seneca II and Seneca II-W Mines. <br />The Yoast Mine is located in the Sage Creek and Grassy Creek watersheds, which are <br />' tributary to the Yampa River. Surface water will be developed in both watersheds for <br />industrial purposes. There are no water rights decreed for diversion from Grassy Creek and <br />downstream from the Yoast Mine which would affect SCC's use of water. However, there <br />are absolute and conditional water rights decreed for diversion from Sage Creek and the <br />Yampa River which are senior to SCC's use of water. As such, it is necessary to develop <br />water supplies for the Yoast Mine in a manner that the available water supplies for the <br />existing uses are not diminished. <br />This report describes SCC's water uses and stream depletions, addresses potential <br />impacts to other water users, and sets forth the elements of a plan for augmentation. Data <br />and information were obtained from personnel with SCC, Peabody Western Coal Company, <br />and GeoTrans, Inc., from site inspections, from the records of the State Engineer, and from <br />' interviews with the former Water Commissioner and others. <br />SETTING <br />The Yoast Mine is located in T.5 N., R.87 W. of the 6th P.M as shown on Plate 1. It <br />is located about 2 miles southwest of the Seneca II Mine and about 3 miles east of the <br />Seneca II-W Mine. Precipitation at Hayden averaged 17.1 1 inches annually for 1965-93 and <br />ranged from 11.35 inches in 1976 to 23.88 inches in 1983 (1965-93, NOAAI. <br />' Land surface elevations at the Yoast Mine site range from about 6,800 feet to about <br />7,900 feet. Streamflow within the mine area is intermittent and results from snowmelt, <br />precipitation events, and springs. <br />WATER REQUIREMENTS AND SOURCES <br />The water uses at the Yoast Mine will include domestic and industrial components. <br />The domestic component will include water use by SCC employees at the mine headquarters <br />complex for drinking, washing, and sanitary purposes. Domestic wastewater disposal will <br />consist of a septic tank and non-evaporative leach field system. The annual water demand <br />' 1 <br />