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Section 816.51(a) Continued. <br />Mine Plan Area to be affected by mining will be the Sudduth Coal I <br />Seam. The overburden in the Mine Plan Area is not saturated,. and_ <br />thus is not considered to be an aquifer. At the Kerr Tipple Area, <br />the alluvium under the Illinois River floodplain is the only aquifer <br />which might be affected. The probable consequences of mining on the <br />recharge capacity of these aquifers is fully discussed in Section <br />780.21, and is summarized below. <br />The recharge capacity of the ground water system in the Mine Plan <br />Area will be modified by excavation of the coal aquifer. Recharge <br />capacity will be directly affected since the coal aquifer is normally <br />recharged at the outcrop area where mining will occur. Mining will <br />result in the recharge area being excavated and then backfilled with <br />overburden material. However, permeability and storage capacity of <br />the semi-compacted overburden backfill will likely be greater than <br />• that of the undisturbed aquifer. Increased permeability and ground <br />water storage in the aquifer recharge area will not affect the <br />proposed postmining land use (rangeland) since the coal aquifer is <br />not developed with water wells. The spring located in Section 22, <br />Township 9N, Range 78 W, (shown on Map 15a, Kerr Mine Area Ground <br />Mater Hydrology) will not be affected by mining, since it is fed by <br />perched water from an isolated gravel deposit that will remain <br />undisturbed. Therefore, the postmining land use for rangeland is <br />supported by the proposed mining and reclamation plan. <br />At the Kerr Tipple Area, recharge to the alluvial aquifer occurs <br />i through flooding during high flow ,periods on the Illinois River and <br />i by percolation of water through the streambed. These processes will <br />not be disturbed by operations_at_the__tipple, which is situated on <br />the eastern edge of the Illinois River floodplain above the 100-year <br />flood level, as shown on Map 17a, Kerr Tipple Area Hydrology. The <br />_~ reclamation plan for the Tipple Area provides for removal of existing <br />facilities for grading, topsoiling and seeding of the <br />816-72R Revised - January, 1991 <br />