Laserfiche WebLink
colluvium in the permit area and surface water from above will be diverted around the <br />disturbed area. No future impact which might interrupt, discontinue, or preclude <br />farming on the flood plain is proposed. Thus operations at Terror Creek would not <br />interrupt, discontinue, or preclude farming on previously-undisturbed portions of the <br />alluvial valley floor. <br />2. Pursuant to Rule 2.06.8(5)(a)(i)(A)(II), the Division finds that the surface coal mining <br />operations would not materially damage the quality and quantity of water in surface and <br />underground water systems that supply those alluvial valley floors or portions of alluvial <br />valley floors. <br />Given the small size (13.6 acres) and nature of the disturbance, no significant <br />hydrological impacts are anticipated. There is minimal potential for the quality of water <br />supplied to the alluvial valley floor via the Deer Trail Ditch or the Fire Mountain Canal <br />to be affected. <br />The canals are located upslope from the disturbed area. Irrigation runoff and storm <br />runoff will be diverted around the disturbance and disturbed flows will be routed <br />through a sediment pond prior to discharge. The applicant has obtained water rights to <br />Deer Trail Ditch water totalling 300 acre-feet per year and anticipates a maximum <br />operational need of approximately 44 acre-feet per year. Forty-four acre-feet is <br />approximately .01% of the mean annual flow of the North Fork. <br />The applicant's discussion of probable hydrologic consequences has identified no <br />anticipated changes in surface water quality. All runoff from disturbed surface areas <br />drains through an approved sediment control system. No material damage to the quality <br />of surface waters supplied to the alluvial valley floor is anticipated, due to sediment <br />control at the site and the fact that the ditch which supplies the AVF is located upslope <br />of the disturbance. <br />There is a slight potential for water quality degradation to occur in the alluvial aquifer <br />immediately down gradient of the loadout pad as a result of percolation of degraded <br />water through the colluvium. This potential is considered insignificant for the following <br />reasons. First, the small amount of degraded percolation water that would infiltrate <br />would be rapidly diluted by existing water in the system. The amount of percolation <br />water would be minimized by the small size of the contributing drainage area (less than <br />15 acres) and the fact that the compacted surface of the pad will favor runoff over <br />infiltration. Once operations are completed, the coal stockpile and sediment pond will <br />be reclaimed and the potential for water quality degradation will cease. <br />Pursuant to Rules 4.24.2(1) and (2), the Division finds that surface coal mining and <br />reclamation operations would be conducted to preserve, throughout the mining and <br />reclamation process, the essential hydrologic functions of alluvial valley floors not <br />within the affected area, and would be conducted to reestablish the essential hydrologic <br />functions of the alluvial valley floor within the affected area. <br />As stated previously, operations are not expected to materially damage the quantity and <br />quality of surface and ground water that supply the alluvial valley floor downstream <br />from the permit area. Pond discharge sampling, as specified in Section V of this <br />document, will be implemented to document the assumptions of this finding. <br />Operations, as presented in the application, will not interfere with or preclude irrigation <br />19