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Mountain Coa! Company 2000 Annual Hydrology Report West Elk Mine • Adequacy of Monitoring Program The list of resources monitored in WY00 decreased from previous years as a result of Technical Revision No. 88 (TR88). Following approval of TR88 on August 24, 1999, MCC removed two surface water stations, seventeen springs, and nine wells from the monitoring program. These resources were shown to no longer be providing useful information. Many of the sites in the monitoring program have been monitored since the early 1980s, so there is extensive data for many of the sites. In addition, with the approval of Minor Revision No. 208 on January 21, 1998, MCC began to report water quality samples from mine water inflows. During WY00, surface water continuous flow data were recorded on dataloggers in addition to the Sevens Type F recorders at the flume stations. The dataloggers helps to eliminate errors in transcribing the data. The strip charts remained in place as a backup system. The Upper Dry Fork station continues to be plagued by extensive beaver activity, which submerges the Parsha]] flume. The Upper and Lower Deep Creek stations did not have flumes installed in order to minimize impacts. Control sections were constructed from natural materials and a pressure transducer with a datalogger was installed at both locations. Although the channel continues to be dynamic, there were enough instantaneous flow measurements to develop a rating curve for WY00 and convert the stage readings to flows for most of the water year. In 1996, MCC installed two groundwater wells to collect baseline data in the area where the Refuse Pile Expansion (RPE) would be constructed. These wells were known as LRP-1 and • LRP~. \Vith the construction of the RPE, LRP-4 was destroyed, but LRP-I (now identified as RPE-1) has continued to be monitored. The data for RPE-1 is included in this report. MCC installed a replacement well for LRP-4 during WY99; this well is called RPE-7. The casings for wells SOM-2-H and SOM-16-H have been damaged and may no longer be providing useful information. Monitoring should continue to see if the pinched or blocked casings allow water level measurements and water quality samples to be obtained. C:\tmk\83I-OR\550jmk'Q000 AHR~2000 AHR dce i 8.3 /-U3?.550 Page 26 Wright Water Engineerc