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-za- <br />Surface Water <br />The surface mining and augering in the Martinez Strip has had minimal impacts <br />on the quantity and quality of Stollsteimer Creek. The total disturbed area <br />of the existing permitted mining operations consist of 91 acres or 0.11% of <br />the total drainage area of Stollsteimer Creek. <br />Surface mining and augering may have caused a reduction in the amount of base <br />flow available to Stollsteimer Creek, This reduction was due to the diversion <br />of ground water from stream/alluvial system to the auger holes and pit in the <br />southern area of the Barren Ridge Pit. Any reduction of this base flow is <br />thought to have been minor. <br />The quanitity of Stollsteimer Creek flow may have been slightly impacted by <br />the Martinez Strip area operations. Water quality may also have been impacted <br />by discharges of mine waters (pit inflows), runoff from disturbed areas, and <br />by spoil water discharges. <br />As mining operations moved up dip, less and less water was encountered, and as <br />a result, less water over time was discharged into Stollsteimer Creek. <br />Once mining is completed, and all the pits are backfilled, surface runoff in <br />the disturbed areas will approximate pre-mining conditions. A reduction in <br />the amount of actual overland flow is expected due to infiltration into the <br />backfilled areas. Given the impacted area versus the entire Stollsteimer <br />drainage the overall effect to the Stollsteimer system is small. <br />After mining has ceased and an equilibrium ground water table is established <br />in the backfill and spoils pile, the quality of surface water in Stollsteimer <br />Creek will be slightly impacted. This is due to baseflow which will be <br />contributed to the stream through recharge via the alluvial/colluvial <br />aquifer. Dilution effects by the creek should mitigate any potential problems. <br />The most immediate potential effect on the surface water regime in Deep Creek <br />Canyon is the disruption of overland flow in the mine area. This disruption <br />is due to the mine pits, stockpile areas, and mine facility sites intercepting <br />the flows. <br />Natural flow gradients and channels will be disrupted as a matter of course in <br />surface mining. The permittee has designed a series of ditches and ponds to <br />capture runoff from disturbed areas on both sides of Deep Creek. The purpose <br />of these ditches is to channel flow toward the ponds, which detain runoff to <br />reduce suspended solids prior to dishcarge. <br />Due to surface disturbance, overland flow should exhibit an increase in total <br />dissolved and suspended solids. Channeling surface water into the sediment <br />ponds allows suspended solids time to settle, rather then having <br />sediment-loaded water flowing directly into Deep Creek. <br />