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Appendix, Volume 4). The applicant has installed a production well and curcently uses this water for <br />domestic use, dust control, and fire control. <br />The recharge to the Steven's Gulch well field area is through flow from the adjacent colluvial deposits and <br />from a leaky pipeline aqueduct. The ground water flows through the colluvium downslope to the <br />alluvium, where it becomes trapped or temporarily stored. This situation is somewhat modified by the <br />presence of landslide complexes which occur throughout the general area in the Bowie and five adjoining <br />quadrangles (Colorado Geological Survey Information Series 5, 34p.). <br />Ground water will tend to move down through the more permeable material and along lateral shears of <br />these landslide complexes. The sources of ground water discharges from the Steven's Gulch alluvium at <br />the well field are through the applicant's wells, through underflow within the alluvium down the old <br />bedrock channel of Steven's Gulch, and through discharges to the stream during high water table <br />conditions in spring and early summer. <br />Water quality analysis for the Steven's Gulch well water indicates good quality water, with none of the <br />parameters exceeding the recommended standards of the Colorado Department of Public Health and the <br />Environment. <br />AlluviaUcolluvial deposits in the Terror Creek drainage near the Morrell Cow Camp are also being utilized <br />for water supply purposes. However, no impact is predicted for these areas since lands affected by mining <br />lie to the south and east. <br />Occurrences of ground water have been noted in the Mesaverde Formation from information obtained from <br />drilling, experience in the mine and from the presence of springs and seeps in the permit area and <br />hydrologically adjacent area. This information indicates that the only potential regional aquifer in the area <br />is the continuous Rollins Sandstone, located stratigraphically approximately 200 feet below the D coal <br />seam. Recharge to the Rollins Sandstone occurs along outcrops and along subcrops beneath the alluvium <br />of Terror Creek to the east and Steven's Gulch to the southwest. However, due to the steepness of the <br />topography in the outcrop areas (i.e. sandstones are cliff formers) and the narrowness of the stream valleys, <br />the Rollins Sandstone receives little recharge. Some recharge to this continuous unit may come directly <br />from the percolation of snowmelt and precipitation downward through fractures. While no site=specific <br />aquifer characteristics for this unit are available from the permit area, indications aze that saturated portions <br />of the Mesaverde Formation are not good aquifers (pages 33 to 37, Section 2.04.7, Volume 1). <br />Ground water occurrences in the stratigraphic interval of the Mesaverde Formation above the D seam are a <br />function of the depositional environment and are characterized by saturated horizons of localized lateral <br />and vertical extent, separated by low porosity, unsaturated intervals. These saturated horizons do not <br />appear to contribute significantly to overall regional ground water flow. <br />To date, the Bowie No. 1 Mine has experienced maximum inflows of around 1,500 gpd. This inflow came <br />from both the floor and roof and were generally roof drips or wet areas on the floor. Mining progressed <br />below East Roatcap Creek and mine inflows have increased but still remained insignificant to the local <br />hydrologic regime. The portals of the East Mine were sealed in 2001 and the portals at the West Mine were <br />sealed in 2000, so no recent mine inflow information is available. <br />Inflows from faults and fractures located outside stream valleys (such as in the Bowie No. 1 Mine) <br />generally dry up with time or flow intermittently at discrete points along the fault or fracture. Those which <br />continue to flow have flow rates which diminish to a trickle. Such inflows may represent the dewatering of <br />lenticular sandstone units with limited recharge areas, or may represent flows through fracture zones <br />extending to the surface which have narrow recharge zones on steep slopes. <br />13 <br />