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Surface and Ground Water Protection <br />CCAP's members are deeply concerned about protecting the quality and quantity of both <br />ground and surface water because thousands of families depend on the water from the Dakota <br />and Cheyenne aquifers for daily survival. In drought years like this one, when the Dakota aquifer <br />will not be recharged at the usual rate because there is little snowmelt expected from the <br />Greenhorn and Wet Mountains, this issue is especially critical. <br />Water - General Requirements: <br />Contamination by Blasting Agent! <br />Rio Grande's permit application does not meet the requirements of Rule 3.1.6 (1), which <br />states that "disturbances to the ... quality of water in surface and groundwater systems both <br />during and after the mining operation and during reclamation shall be minimized by measures <br />including, but not limited to, ... [(b)] compliance with. statewide water quality standards and <br />site-specific classifications and standards adopted by the Water Quality Control Commission" <br />and provision (3), which requires all surfaces of the affected land to be "stabilized and protected <br />so as to effectively control erosion." The mining plan provides no analysis of the effects on <br />water of its intended blasting agent. <br />CCAP.'s research suggests that the St. Charles River, Greenhorn Creek, and the two <br />aquifers underlying the area, the Dakota and Cheyenne Aquifers, will become contaminated from <br />the fifteen tons of ammonium nitrate mixed with diesel fuel oil Rio Grande intends to use each <br />week as a blasting agent in the mining operation. These water sources are used by surrounding <br />residents for wells, farming, and watering cattle The St. Charles River flows into the Arkansas <br />River, a prime source of irrigation water. <br />The EPA has recognized.the dangers to water supplies from the use of ammonium nitrate <br />both as a fertilizer and as a blasting agent used for mining. The nitrates and nitrites left after <br />combustion do not bind to soils. They do not evaporate, and they have a high potential to <br />migrate to groundwater. Nitrates and nitrites remain in water until they are consumed by <br />humans, animals, plants, or other organisms. The maximum containment level for safe drinking <br />water is 10 PPM for nitrates and only one PPM for nitrites. The mining plan calls for <br />pneumatically loading 360 lbs. of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel oil into a 30' by 36' deep <br />bore hold for each 15' by 12' by 30' block. The area described in the application for weekly <br />mining means 80 such holes will. be used each week. Lacking sufficient oxygen for this <br />operation under such conditions, and the tremendous amount of materials being used, suggests <br />that contamination will soon follow. Water from daily spraying of the area for dust control and <br />runoff will eventually seep into the aquifers through porous limestone and sandstone, carrying <br />contaminants with it. <br />Future illnesses resulting from nitrate and nitrite contamination, should they occur, could <br />cost the state a significant amount of money-much more in lawsuits than will ever be collected <br />in royalties from this company over the next 50 years. Topsoil that has been on the surface