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Hydrology - <br />Detailed information regarding the surface and groundwater hydrology in and adjacent to the Bowie No. 2 <br />Mine permit area is provided within Sections 2.04.5 and 2.04.7 of the permit application document. A <br />brief summary is provided below, and the summary is derived from the information presented in permit <br />application Sections 2.04.5 and 2.04.7. <br />The permit and adjacent areas are generally bounded by three (3) perennial streams. These streams are <br />Terror Creek, Hubbard Creek and the North Fork of the Gunnison River, and the streams are located west, <br />east and south of the permit area, respectively. Tributary to the perennial streams are the following <br />intermittent and ephemeral streams: Freeman Gulch, Stephans Draw, A-Gulch, B-Gulch, C-Gulch, <br />D-Gulch, Dove Gulch and Sheep Corral Gulch. The specific locations of these streams are depicted on <br />permit application Map No. 9. <br />The North Fork of the Gunnison River drains an area of approximately 526 square miles. The average <br />annual yield of the North Fork of the Gunnison River from October 1993 to September 1994 was <br />approximately 330,500 acre-feet. The quantity and quality of this river is influenced significantly by <br />agricultural and municipal uses. Near Somerset, Colorado, the water in the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River is a calcium-bicarbonate type, and total dissolved solids concentrations range from approximately <br />100 milligrams per liter (mg/ 1) to approximately 400 mg/l. <br />Terror Creek is a perennial stream which drains approximately 29 square miles, and Hubbard Creek is a <br />perennial stream which drains approximately 35 square miles. Freeman Gulch is a significant drainage <br />which is tributary to Hubbard Creek. Freeman Gulch exhibited flow during the snowmelt period of Spring <br />1995, and may be considered an intermittent stream. Stephans Draw is also an intermittent stream, and <br />Stockpond P-1 is located along Stephans Draw. <br />The drainages of A-Gulch, B-Gulch, C-Gulch, D-Gulch, Sheep Corral Gulch and a portion of Dove Gulch <br />probably exhibit ephemeral flow regimes. Originally, a portion of Dove Gulch was considered perennial. <br />However, in Permit Revision No. 10, BRL is contending that Dove Gulch is ephemeral. <br />There are twelve (12) stock ponds located in the permit and adjacent areas. These include Pond P-1, <br />mentioned above, and all of the ponds are manmade. The ponds collect spring season runoff, and any <br />available seep water. <br />Groundwater in the area is located within the alluvial deposits along the North Fork of the Gunnison <br />River and Hubbard and Terror Creeks, within the steep sloped colluvial deposits found within some of the <br />drainages, in perched water zones located within the lenticular sandstones of the Mesa Verde formation <br />and in the Rollins Sandstone. The Rollins Sandstone is a recognized aquifer in the area. <br />The groundwater associated with the alluvial deposits of the North Fork of the Gunnison River has been <br />developed for domestic and agricultural uses. The localized groundwater resources associated with the <br />alluvial deposits of Hubbard and Terror Creeks are not significantly developed. The groundwater <br />associated with local colluvial deposits is recharged by snowmelt, and the water discharges through local <br />intermittent springs and seeps. Most of this colluvial water is lost due to evaporation. <br />Bedrock groundwater is not abundant in the permit area. The groundwaters of the locally perched bedrock <br />water zones and of the Rollins Sandstone are not significantly developed in the permit and surrounding <br />area, due to relatively poor water quality and low potential quantity yields. The general bedrock <br />14