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i _1_ I GROUIdO :4ATEE2 QUALITY ~~ ( COLO:•IYO COAL t4INE Introduction j This report summarizes a preliminary study made to identify the possible problems related to ground water contamination in the vicinity of the Colovrio Coal :Sine in the Yampa coal field p-+ of northwest Colorado. The report enumerates the many potential ( sources of ground water contamination in a western open pit mine and then seeks to eliminate the sources which are not applicable to Colo~rvo Coal due either to the climate, geology, existing ground or surface water chemistry, or specific mining and recla- C mation practices of Colocayo Coal. Historical and present water quality measurements have also been reviewed to determine the extent, if any, of the effects of the strip mining in Streeter Canyon which has occurred in recent years. l• The Colowyo Coal Cline is located in I-ioffat County on federal coal lease D-034365. The mine pit will extend south approximate- ly one mile from Streeter Canyon, a tributary to Good Springs Creek, to the east. Good Springs Creek flows north two miles into tiilk Creek, which is tributary to the Yampa River, about twv four miles farther north. The immediate vicinity of the mine L and the federal lease is shocm in Figure 1. The major creeks near the mine are, from east to west, Good Spring Creek, Taylor L Creek (west of the mine), and 14ilson Creek. Each of these creeks was gauged below the mine by the U. S. Geological Survey for a few years between 1974 and 1978. I__ To complete this study historical records of both surface and ground water quality in this watershed and in similar watersheds have been reviewed. The caater quality records in the watershed are from the U. S. Geological Survey Open File Report 78-23, and ~, from the water quality records of the U. S. Geological Survey 1_ Leonard Rice Consulting Waler Engineers, Inc.