1989-05-12_REVISION - M1977493 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1 • • s Water storage and flood protection for the tailing ponds in the Tenmile Creek drainage are provided by Clinton Reservoir located on the east side of the valley. Clinton Reservoir encompasses 92 acres and has a decreed capacity of 4250 acre-feet. This permanent water storage site is open to the public for fishing. A second permanent water storage site in the Tenmile Creek drainage is Buffehr Reservoir which stores water for the Climax water filtration and distribution system. This reservoir covers approximately five acres and has a decreed capacity of approxi- mately 103 acre-feet. WATER QUALITY CONTROL Climax manages all waters originating within and flowing onto its property under the terms and conditions of its water rights decrees. The mine has the capability of moving water throughout its system via a remote monitoring and control process . As dis- cussed, the only currently active Colorado PDES permit allows for discharge to Tenmile Creek below the Mayflower tailing pond. The permit for the Arkansas drainage has been inactivated. • Climax has been developing and implementing programs to: 1 ) provide present, future, and post-mining discharge waters of a quality acceptable to the state, and 2 ) control present, future , and post-mining flood waters. A study of Tenmile Creek by the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration in 1965 revealed the almost complete absence of fish and macroinvertebrates down- stream of the Climax property to the confluence with the West Fork of Tenmile Creek near Copper Mountain . This lack of streamlife was due to drainage from the inactive Tenmile Mining District which dated from the mid-1800 's. Since Climax imple- mented its present water treatment and discharge system, the aquatic ecosystem in this section of Tenmile Creek has recovered to the point that a viable fishery exists at all locations where instream habitat is suitable (aquatic monitoring programs are discussed later in this section ) . Drainage from Inactive Mines Metal mining and beneficiation of metallic ores began in the Tenmile Drainage in the 1860 's with the discovery of gold and, later, silver. At one time in the late 1800 's and early 1900 's , the valley supported the towns of Robinson, Kokomo and Recen with populations in the thousands. The legacy of this mining district, as with many other districts in the west, was one of numerous abandoned mines, mill and smelter sites, shafts, and adits draining acidic waters. Tenmile Creek was biologically • dead for decades . G-5