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-30- If, however, the prediction of insignficant inflows to the mine fails for whatever reason, and it becomes necessary to discharge water from the mine, the applicant has prepared a prosed mine discharge plan, which is presented on page 139A of Section 2.05.6 of Volume 16. Prior to any discharge of mine water into or out of any sedimentation ponds, if this should ever become necessary approval would have to be granted by the appropriate regulatory agencies. The withdrawal of ground water from the Steven's Gulch well field depletes flows in this stream. This depletion of flow, flow which could eventually reach the North Fork and benefit downstream water rights, has been mitigated by the applicant via an approved augmentation plan decreed in the Division 4 Water Court. Augmentation is accomplished by releasing water from a water right held in East Beckwith No. 1 Reservoir, located in the Anthracite drainage. See the Water Rights Study, Yolume 5 and 5A. The applicant has committed to submitting records of water withdrawals and water chemistry data on the Steven's Gulch well field (see Section 2.05.6, page 1518). The applicant has furnished this data in monitoring submittals since the issuance of the original permit. The applicant may impact ground water quality below the coal processing waste pile. To monitor this impact to ground water, the applicant has installed and is monitoring a well below the sediment pond at drainage node 22 as shown on Map 13. To date the data has not shown that leachate from the waste pile is contributing to stream flow. However, as the pile increases, the potential for leachate increases. Therefore, CWI will continue to monitor the well below the pond to identify any impacts. Effects of the Orchard Vallev Mine - Surface Water The Orchard Yalley mine plan is designed to minimize the impacts of the project on the surface water hydrology of the region. Disturbed area drainage from the mine benches, parking area, west portal fill, and loadout site is collected and treated on the site. Four sediment ponds collect disturbed area drainage from the mine benches. One pond controls drainage from the timber storage area, and two ponds collect drainage from the disturbed areas of the loadout, truck scales, and coal stockpile area. The west portal area drains to one sedimentation pond except for exempted portions of the fill face which use alternative sediment control. A system of lined and unlined ditches convey waters from the disturbed areas to the ponds. The mine operator has applied for and/or obtained the appropriate NPDES permits. Effluent quality from the sedimentation ponds will be monitored to determine permit compliance. The west portal area will not significantly affect the surface water hydrology of Roatcap Creek or the regional hydrology. Sediment control measures will ensure protection to stream quality. No mine water will discharge from the portals and no water will be withdrawn from the creek. The overland ditch will divert water_i.nto west Roatcap Creek thereby by=passing the_site. Mine inflows under and adjacent to the creek are predicted to be insignificant. These facts support the finding of no material damage from the west portal facilities revision and do not result in arty changes to past cumulative hydrologic impact assessments conducted by the Division for the region.