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• 5, PROBABLE IMPACTS TO LOCAL OR REGIONAL AQUIFERS <br />The Starkville area has experienced much mining in the past. <br />Coal has been produced from 141 mines in the Trinidad area. Some <br />of these removed outcrops only while others were extensive under- <br />ground excavations. Most were in the Vermejo Formation. The <br />Starkville mine operated from 1884 to 1941 and with the nearby <br />Engle mine covered an area of 3.5 square miles. Past observations <br />of the old Starkville mine workings show that the mine is dry. <br />The Helen Mine Project will remove coal from the lower Vermejo <br />Formation. As discussed in the section on the Hydrologic Balance, <br />~--~° <br />if water seeps from the mine walls at even a very low rate, a <br />localized drawdown may occur in one, two or all three of the <br />saturated sands at this location. In a water table situation the <br />radius of influence will depend on seasonal recharge rates. <br />• It is important to note that the Raton and Vermejo Formations <br />in the Starkville area are not continuous with regionally extensive <br />aquifers. Due to erosion, low local precipitation and a recharge <br />area that is on the distant western side of the basin neither of <br />these formations supplies usable quantities of water to the near- <br />by population. By true definition they are not aquifers. <br />Only one water well is likely to be affected by mining activ- <br />ities. The Iuppa well is completed in the coal-bearing formation <br />down dip a short distance from the permit boundary. It produces <br />at a very low rate of 1 gpm, contains high concentrations of nitrate <br />and is generally of poor quality. The loss of this well would not <br />be substantial. If this occurs, an alternate and possible better <br />source of water might be found. <br /> <br />571 <br />FISHER, HARDEN & FISHER <br />