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Potential courses of action -The following three strategies exist for further investigating <br />leachate as a possible contaminant in the Musgrave well: <br />a) Tracer study - A tracer chemical could be added to the leachate in the <br />Browning pit (assuming leachate exists) to see if the tracer shows up several <br />years later in the Musgrave well. This long period of time would be <br />impractical for the Musgrave well that is in current use. <br />b) Leachate sampling in Browning pit -Trapper could drill a well at the deepest <br />point in Browning pit and then sample the leachate, if any is present. Coal <br />mining would be excluded as a cause of degradation if either there is no <br />leachate or the leachate's quality is significantly better than the Musgrave well <br />water. The likely outcome for this option maybe that leachate is confirmed as <br />a possible contaminant, while natural ground water remains equally suspect. <br />c) Isotope matching - As water goes through the hydrologic cycle, isotopes in <br />the water are preferentially concentrated depending on physical, chemical, and <br />biological conditions. The sulfur or oxygen isotopes in water from the <br />Musgrave well could possibly be compared to water and leachates from <br />Trapper's wells to find a match. The cost of such an investigation may be a <br />few hundred dollars. <br />Need for updating Trapper's permit -Trapper should add to page 4-226a of the permit a <br />prediction of the impacts to the Musgrave well. The update could be part of the current <br />permit renewal, <br />