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SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT ]USTIFICAT[ON NOV C-96-006 Notice of Violation C-96-006 was issued for "Failttre to design, constmct and maintain the East Taylor Creek Pond to provide adequate capacity to contain or treat the runoff or inflow entering the pond as a result of a ]0-year, 24hour precipitation event and thc inflow from the water pumped from the West Pit into thc East Taylor Creek Pond. Failure to submit supporting calculations, documents and drawings uscd to establish the requirements of 4.05.6(3) in the permit application." Erica Crosby issued the NOV to Colowyo on March 26, 1996 following a March 20, 1996 inspection. During the March 20, 1996 inspection Ms. Crosby observed pit water being pumped to the East Taylor Creek Pond. The pit water was of very poor quality and she questioned whcthcr Colowyo had approval to pump pit water to the pond. Ms. Crosby maintaincd that thc pond designs did not include additional storage volume for pit water. As supporting documcntation she presented the design considerations for the pond which did not include any baseFlow. Representatives from Colowyo disagreed. They said pit water would be pumped to thc pond. They submitted page 4.05 of their permit which was approved as a revision. It says: Pumping of pits due to colledioa of surface runoff is anticipated only on an extremely rare occasion, is performed mainly for safety purposes, and will not effect the design or fuactioa of the sedimentation goads. Water quality data was not available when Erica issued NOV C-96-006. Had the results been issued they would have served as evidencc supporting the fact that the pond was not serving to treat the discharge to meet water quality standards. The discharge was not in compliancc with the permit. The fad that the water quality was not in compliance demonstrates to me that the pumping of pit water did effect the functioning of the sedimentation pond. The amount of water pumped to the pit is not known, however an individual at the mine involved with the pumping reported to Ms. Crosby that pumping had occurred every other day for roughly two and a half weeks. The pond did not serve to function or treat the water to maintain compliance with water quality standards. As part of her March 20, 1996 inspection, Ms. Crosby took a water quality sample of the water discharging from the East Taylor Creek Pond. She submitted the sample to the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division (WQCD). Results of the sample were not received by the DMG until April 25, 1996. They showed the water discharging from the pond was not in compliance with Colowyo's CPDS permit as shown below. 1