GENERAL39876

• Permit No: C1980007
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Date: 6/14/1985
• Doc Name: Proposed Decision & Findings of Compliance for PR4
• From: Addition of 320 Acres
• Permit Index Doc Type: FINDINGS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

-45-
The Orchard Valley Mine pumps approximately 30,000 gpd (23.02
acre-feet per year) from Stevens Gulch for coal spraying, dust
control, fire control, and potable water supplies. This depletion
has been augmented by an approved augmentation plan through
Division 4 Water Court (see Augmentation Appendix in Volume 2, the
Orchard Valley permit application), which utilizes releases from
East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir, located in the Anthracite drainage,
to replace water removed from Stevens Gulch. Most of the potable
water supply used for showering, etc. is treated at the site and
released to the sediment ponds. The loss due to evaporation of the
water in the ponds is expected to have a minimal impact on water
yields of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. Another
consumptive use of water by the Orchard Valley Mine will be water
absorbed on coal which is transported out of the basin. No data
has been provided by Colorado Westmoreland Inc. on this consumptive
use at the mine. Colorado Westmoreland Inc., is supplying water
consumption information annually to the Division as a committed
condition of their 1981 permit approval. The worst-case depletion
to the flow in the North Fork (23.02 acre-feet per year) for a
250-day work year should be 0.006% of the mean annual yield in the
river.
The Western Slope Carbon Hawk's Nest Mine, located on the north
slope of the basin above Somerset, utilizes its surface water
rights and rights to mine inflow water (Appendix XIII, Volume 3 of
the Hawk's Nest permit application) to meet the water requirements
for mining operations, wash plant operations and domestic use.
Water rights held by Western Slope Carbon are adequate to cover the
consumptive use in their mine operations (pages 2.04-29 to -33 of
the Hawk's Nest permit application). Western Slope Carbon
estimates that the Hawk's Nest Mine will consume 215 acre-feet of
water per year, which amounts to 0.052% of the mean annual yield of
the North Fork of the Gunnison.
For WECC's Mt. Gunnison No. 1 Mine, the worst-case scenario would
be if the 150 acre-feet per year of water used for spraying the
coal and for the potable water supply were entirely removed from
the basin. On the average, this would amount to approximately 12.5
acre-feet of water each month. From Table 9, it appears (from
Column 5) that the months of August and September will be the
critical months for removal of water from the watershed. In
reality, most of the water used for potable water will be returned
to the North Fork of the Gunnison River. WECC's water is diverted
from the North Fork to a storage pond adjacent to the river. The
total estimated worst-case depletion (150 acre-feet per year) would
amount to only 0.04% of the mean annual yield of the North Fork.
(See materials submitted by WECC Coal Company, December 15, 1981,
in response to permit Stipulation No. 7.)