Laserfiche WebLink
(Figure III.A-1). Present water rights will accommodate water to be used in <br />• the waste disposal slurry system. Mine water uses include the following. <br />Approximately 0.70 acre feet per day are consumed for domestic use. The <br />majority of this is used in the bathhouse facilities at the mine. In the <br />underground portion of the mine, fire mining units are expected to use a <br />normal quantity of 50 gpm during production. This includes mining face <br />equipment and supporting belt drives and sprays. Total mine consumption <br />is 250 gpm for approximately eight hours per day. Surface wash plant facil- <br />ities and the underground disposal system are expected to consume about 100 <br />gpm. This is the major consumer of water at the mine because it operates on <br />a 14-hour per day basis. Table III.C-3 lists these water consumption quan- <br />tities. Assuming normal operations over 239 working days at 14 hours per day, <br />the mine complex will consume approximately 215 acre feet of water per year. <br />• Table III.C-4 summarizes the water sources that are available at the <br />Hawk's Nest Mine. Absolute water rights are more than sufficient to accommo- <br />date the present and projected annual use of 215 acre feet of water. Western <br />Slope Carbon o~ms 75 percent of the water rights in the Lost Lake Slough (East <br />Beckwith Reservoir). This amounts to 426.6 acre feet per year. The reservoir <br />is a holding point for water rights decreed to the Fire Mountain Canal and <br />Reservoir Company and leased to WSC for industrial use (Appendix C). It is <br />approximately 19 miles upstream from the points of diversion at the Hawk's <br />Nest Mine portals. As the water is used in WSC's operations, it is measured <br />for determination of annual usage rates. When the Water Division of the <br />Department of Natural Resources deems it necessary, the water stored in the <br />reservoir is discharged into the Paonia Reservoir water system to supplement <br />the flow of the North Fork Gunnison River. This discharge also replaces the <br />• waters diverted out of the North Fork Gunnison by Western Slope Carbon for the <br />period following the last reservoir discharge. <br />38 <br />