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of cropland constitutes the lazgest of these uses. Surface water consumed within the Yampa <br />River drainage basin in 1976 totaled approximately 445,000 acre-feet. Of that, 399,000 acre-feet <br />were used for irrigating croplands and hay meadows or for watering livestock. Other uses <br />included 5,478 acre-feet for industrial purposes, 2,555 acre-feet for municipal water supplies, and <br />8,283 acre-feet for other unspecified uses (Steele et al., 1979). Industrial consumption has since <br />increased by a total of 18,720 acre-feet per year due to use by the Craig generating station. <br />Irrigation Use of Surface Water. Water for agricultural irrigation is generally obtained by <br />simple stream diversion structures and networks of ditches for flooding grasslands and meadows <br />during summer months. The short growing season precludes growing of warm weather crops <br />such as com. In the Williams Fork River, an even higher proportion of the water used is for <br />imgation of grasslands and hay fields. <br />Aquifer Stratigraphy. Within the general vicinity of the Eagle Mines, ground water exists in <br />both bedrock and alluvial aquifers. Significant bedrock aquifers aze (listed in ascending <br />stratigraphic order) the Trout Creek, Middle, Twentymile, and White sandstones. The Middle, <br />Twentymile and White sandstones aze in the Williams Fork Formation; the Trout Creek <br />sandstone is the uppermost member of the underlying Iles Formation. The main alluvial aquifers <br />in the azea aze associated with the Yampa and Williams Fork Rivers. The alluvial aquifers <br />probably contribute to baseflow of the rivers during dry periods. Coal seams, discontinuous <br />sandstones, and siltstones and smaller alluvial bodies in the area of the mine are also water- <br />bearing, but contain insufficient quantities of water to be considered significant aquifers. <br />Ground Water Use. The Trout Creek Sandstone, the Twentymile Sandstone, and the White <br />Sandstone aze bedrock aquifers currently being used for ground water supplies in the general <br />vicinity of the Eagle Mines. The Middle Sandstone is not currently used as a ground water <br />supply in the vicinity. The alluvial bodies associated with the Yampa River and Williams Fork <br />River contain limited ground water and are not considered major aquifers in the general azea. <br />Alluvial bodies along the Yampa River up- and downstream of the general azea, however, aze <br />significant sources of ground water. High yield irrigation and municipal water supply wells aze <br />completed in the Yampa River alluvium in those azeas. Also, the Yampa River alluvium outside <br />the vicinity is widely used as a source of domestic and livestock watering. Within the vicinity, <br />alluvial ground water is not a significant source of water put to beneficial use. Ground water <br />from the coals and thin sandstones are not considered aquifers, but they flow into the <br />underground workings and the mine uses them for cooling, dust suppression, fire protection, and <br />other industrial uses. <br />Ground Water Recharge, Discharge, and Flow. The sandstone aquifers in the Big Bottom <br />Synclinal Basin are rechazged at their subcrops beneath the stream/alluvial systems of the Yampa <br />and Williams Fork Rivers, and at their outcrops in upland azeas, From a recharge area, flow <br />would be generally northward, downdip toward the axis of the Big Bottom syncline. Faults may <br />provide conduits of flow for ground water wherever a fault is not sealed with fine-grained gouge <br />material. <br />Ground Water Hydraulics. The sandstone aquifers aze under atmospheric pressure (water table <br />conditions) neaz their rechazge azeas and under hydrostatic pressure (artesian conditions) within <br />the structural basins or at discharge points. Hydrostatic pressures in the sandstone aquifers <br />7 <br />