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West Elk Mine 2001 Annual Hydrology Report <br />sampling procedures or lab error and is not believed to be the result of mining activities. However, <br />• MCC will carefully watch the water quality of this spring to see if any water quality trends occur. <br />5.3 Stock Ponds and USFS Water Resources <br />Numerous stock ponds and USFS water resources aze located in the mining azea. The USFS sites <br />are summarized in Table 7. Locafions of these sites are shown in Map 3. There was no reported <br />water loss or water quality issue at any of these sites in WY2001. <br />5.4 Ground Water <br />MCC maintains a network of 18 monitoring wells throughout the permit and lease areas. A <br />summary of the well monitoring schedule is in Table 4 and well completion information is in Table <br />5. Locations of the stations are shown on Map 2. Well water level data and water quality <br />informafion are presented in Appendix F and G respecflvely. <br />5.4.1 Water Quantity and Quality <br />Water levels in the shallow colluvial monitoring wells GP-6 and GP-7 showed a drop in water level <br />of about 4 feet from previous yeaz, WY2000 (MCC, 2002). The decrease in water level is likely <br />• due to low precipitation and rechazge. <br />Wells SOMAS-Hl and SOM-45-H2 have likely been affected by the underlying longwall mining. <br />These wells are completed in the barren member of the Mesa Verde Formation above the F Seam. <br />The interburden between this horizon and the mined interval is about 800 feet thick. The water <br />level in SOM-45-H1 has lowered neaz the bottom of the well at a depth of about 316 feet and <br />remained unchanged in WY2001. The water level in SOM-45-H2 has dropped over 40 feet from <br />about 120 feet to 160 Y'eet, from the previous year in April and June, but rose 13 feet from about <br />154 to 167 feet in September. This may indicate that water levels inifially dropped during mining, <br />but are recovering after the operations have passed. <br />The water level in well 96-2-2 went up in WY2001 from about 5 feet in April to over 10 feet in <br />June. The water was about the same elevation in September. Well 96-2-2 is completed in the <br />strata above the E Seam at a depth of over 1,500 feet. During WY2001 mining operations were <br />several miles northwest of well 96-2-2. Increasing water levels in this well aze likely caused by <br />natural phenomena and are not related to any mining acfivities. <br />• <br />25 <br />Rojec[ # 00301 HydroGeo, Inc. <br />