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West Elk Mine 2004 Annual Hydrology Report 35 quality [rends occur. No mining-induced impacts to water quality or flows in the monitored springs are anticipated in WY 2005. 5.3 Impacts to Stock Ponds and USFS Water Resources Numerous stock ponds and USFS water resources are located in the Project area. The USFS water resource sites are summarized in Table 7 and shown in Map 3. There are no known water loss or water quality issues at any of these locations in WY 2004. 5.4 Ground Water MCC maintains a network of 19 monitoring wells throughout the permit and lease areas. Five new monitoring wells were installed in September 2003: Upper Dry Fork Alluvial Well, Lower Dry Fork Alluvial Well, SOM-3B, and SOM-3E. Baseline data for these wells was collected in WY 2004. A summary of the well monitoring schedule is presented in Table 4 and the well completion information is in Table 5. Locations of the monitoring wells are shown on Map 2. Well water level data and water quality information are presented in Appendix F and G respectively. The casings in several monitoring wells have collapsed in [he past several yeazs and are likely the • result of mining-induced subsidence. These wells include SOM-45-H1 (Sept. 2002), SOM-2-H (Jul. 1999), SOM-16-H (Sep. 2000), 96-27-1 (Apr. 2002), and SO.W-1 (Jun. 2002). Hydrologic data from these wells are not available. 5.4.1 Impacts to Ground Water Quantity and Quality In general, there were no significant water quality changes in the ground water monitoring wells during WY 2004. However, there were several minor changes noted in monitoring Well 1-11-O1 (slightly elevated alkalinity), Well SOM-80 (slightly elevated conductivity), Well 96-2-2 (slightly elevated dissolved iron and TDS), and Well SOM-129H (elevated TDS, suspect value). There is no indication that these water quality changes are attributed to mining operations and no additional changes are expected in WY 2005. The shallow colluvial monitoring Well GP-4 went dry in WY 2002 and was dry in WY 2003 and WY 2004. Wells GP-3 and RPE-7 also went dry in WY 2004. The water level drop in this well may be due to the up-gradient diversion of surface water runoff in the area. The water level in these wells may rebound in WY 2005 due to higher than normal precipitation. Well SOM-45-H1 and Well SOM-45-H2 have been affected by the underlying longwall mining in Panel 13. These wells are completed in [he ban•en member of the Mesa Verde Formation above the August 2005 HydroGeo, Inc.