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identified as a recharge azea. As such, the potential impacts of mining will be threefold: <br />(1) Interruption of the aquifer by physically removing the coal and its overburden. <br />Mining of the coal will interrupt the aquifer function upgradient of Twentymile <br />Park. This will reduce the recharge potential to the down-gradient aquifer for a <br />short period of time. <br />(2) After discreet mining areas have been backfilled, the spoils will resaturate. A <br />portion of the spoil water will recharge the undisturbed Wadge Coal and <br />overburden immediately down-gradient. This recharge water will be high in <br />TDS and other constituents. The concentrations of these constituents will be <br />greater than that which existed in the Wadge Coal and overburden aquifer prior <br />to mining. <br />(3) It is thought that the Wadge overburden, through sub-crops and outcrops, may <br />recharge creeks within Twentymile Basin. This recharge may be directly <br />affected by the addition of the poor quality spoil discharge water during base <br />flow conditions, or indirectly by the addition of this water to associated alluvial <br />bodies. Rechazge to the surface system could potentially be affected by the <br />interruption of the aquifer due to removal by mining. Furthermore, upon <br />indirect recharge by the spoil aquifer, a plume of poor quality water could <br />diminish the water quality of the surface water system within Twentymile Park. <br />The alluvial aquifer system, which includes alluvial bodies in the Fish Creek Drainage <br />(including Bond and Cow Camp Creeks) and the Grassy Creek Drainage, will be <br />impacted by mining activities. <br />During mining, surface runoff from the disturbed areas is contained in sediment ponds <br />prior to discharging from the site. Historically, the sediment ponds at the Seneca II <br />Mine discharge regularly throughout the year to the associated drainages (Grassy Creek, <br />Bond Creek, Cow Camp Creek). These drainages, at various times ofthe yeaz, recharge <br />the associated alluvial/colluvial aquifers with the sediment pond dischazge. These <br />sediment pond discharges are typically higher in dissolved constituents than the <br />naturally occurring runoff from the undisturbed site. As the alluvial/colluvial water <br />quality closely minors the quality of the stream, a degradation (i.e. increase in TDS) is <br />observable in alluvial monitoring wells down-gradient of the mine site. In portions of <br />Little Grassy Creek drainage in contact with previously disturbed lands, TDS increase <br />over baseline conditions is observable. This is due to the addition of spoils water, <br />which has been discharged from backfilled portions of the mine site, to the alluvial <br />system. <br />This general trend can be seen in water quality analyses from alluvial wells in Grassy <br />Creek and Little Grassy Creek. The water in these alluvial systems isdown-gradient of <br />spoils and is probably receiving a contribution from spoils water containing high levels <br />of dissolved solids. In general, water from these sites has shown an overall trend <br />27 <br />