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Claire Semmer - 2 - December 29, 1986 Please commit to placing water elevation measuring devices on streams immediately adjacent to alluvial monitoring sites. This information will be used to correlate discharge and recharge of the alluvium with the stream. 3. The Division requests more detailed monitoring of Site 62, and recommends that it be considered a general surface water site for purposes of the monitoring plan. During 1986, a substantial quantity of water discharged from this site despite minimal operational activities. The source of /~ `~ this discharge is not clear at this time. Some surface water runoff was undoubtedly present. Groundwater flow through the Fish Creek Tipple ~,° bench may have been responsible, or there may have been some groundwater contribution from Mine 3 spoils south of the facility. The Division 1~~ iY ,/ avou3d like the source of this water to be better characterized and W ~~`~rr S consequently also requests that water utilization records be submitted ~ ,,~,~From the well at the loadout to use in differentiating between ~Y'~,r~.operation-generated flows and other flows. 3, Include aluminum, copper and lead in the surface water parameter list and add molybdenum to the groundwater monitoring list. Commit to monitoring concentrations of nitrate, nitrite and nickel on both the ground water and surface water list. Our rationale is as follows: The Division requests continued monitoring of aluminum, copper and lead because the downstream site, 1003, identified average concentrations for these metals at levels approaching or higher than receiving stream standards. Average Concentrations of Selected Metals at Site 1003, 1985 Average Concentration Receiving Stream Standard Metal (mq/1) (mg/1) ~- Cu 0.02 0.022 Pb 0.03 0.07.5 Mo 0.12 0.01 As noted above, molybdenum values also exceed the agriculturally-based receiving stream standard. The monitoring plan proposes to restrict monitoring of molybdenum to surface waters. At this time it appears appropriate to add molybdenum to the parameters monitored at groundwater alluvial sites. Nitrogen species are being analyzed currently as N03-NO2. Both nitrate and nitrite have receiving stream standards; these are TO mg/1 and 0.05 mg/1 respectively, The recent reported concentrations of N03-N02 far exceed the receiving stream standard of NO2 of 0.05 mg/1, (Site 1003, 1985 average, equaled 4.3 mg /1 ). Thus it is necessary to analyze these parameters separately. Overburden geochemistry analyses from Mine 3 suggest that nickel could present a water quality problem. The Division requests that nickel be monitored to evaluate the status of this prediction.