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-39- Two reservoirs are located within the Minnesota Creek drainage. Minnesota Reservoir is located on Dry Fork. It has a decreed capacity of 1,285 acre-feet. The actual capacity may be closer to 500 acre-feet, however. Beaver Reservoir is located on the East Fork of Minnesota Creek and has an absolute decreed capacity of 1,620 acre-feet and a conditional decree of 552 acre-feet. Both reservoirs store water for irrigation purposes and are filled during spring runoff. They are usually drained by late August or early September. Water quality parameters for the North Fork are given in Table 3. As indicated, waters in the North Fork are a calcium bicarbonate type. There are moderate levels of sulfate. Salinity averages less than 100 mg/1. Water quality data has been collected at several sites throughout the Minnesota Creek drainage. The data indicate that those waters are also the calcium bicarbonate type with relatively low total dissolved solids concentrations. There are a total of 13 decreed water rights on or near the Mt. Gunnison permit area. The majority of springs that might be impaired are located above the "F" seam out- crop. Water rights on Minnesota Creek may. be impaired to the level that flow is decreased due to mining activities. The Hawk's Nest mine site is drained by nine ephemeral streams f_or which no flow records exist. Two of the gulches have had two water samples collected during 1980 when they were flowing during snowmelt and thunderstorms. The water is alkaline with an average total dissolved solids concentration of 121 mg/1. Total suspended solids concentrations are low. Three miles upstream fr an the Hawk's Nest mines, Muddy Creek and Anthracite Creek join to form the North Fork of the Gunnison. Anthracite Creek contributes about two-thirds of the flan in the North Fork. Anthracite Creek is a perennial stream with an average annual flaw of 206 cfs. During 1978, the highest discharge was 1,680 cfs. Flows as Lao as 1 cfs have been recorded at several times in the past in Anthracite Creek. The water of Anthracite Creek is an alkaline, moderately hard, calcium-bicarbonate type water with an average total dissolved solids concentration of 76.3 mg/1. Total suspended solids average approximately 100 mg/1. Dissolved metal concentrations are low throu_hout the year, while total metal concentrations are related to total suspended solids concentrations. The Somerset, Blue .Ribbon and Orchard Valley minesites are drained by ephemeral drainages, except for Hubbard Creek, which is a perennial stream. During 1980, Hubbard Creek flews ranged from 3 cfs to 130 cfs with an average of 31 cfs. The estimated annual yield for Hubbard Creek was 24,'700 acre-feet/year. Water quality data for Hubbard Creek are presented in Table 4. Three separate drainages are Located within or adjacent to the Orchard Valley mine; Terror Creek drains the eastern portion of the Life-of-mine area, and East and West Roatcap Creek drain the western portion. Stevens Gulch is an ephemeral drainage between the Terror Creek and Roatcap Creek drainage basins, and has a drainage area of 6.0 square miles, One other ephemeral drainage within the Orchard Valley life-of-mine area, Long Draw, drains an area of 1.5 square miles and flows into Flest Roatcap Creek.