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COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT, Water Quality Control Division Rationale — Page 23, Permit No. C00036251 selenium, silver and zinc." WQA at 19. Notably absent from the assessment is molybdenum, which continues to pose groundwater contamination problems at the Cotter Mill in Canon City. Also absent from the assessment is vanadium, the other main target mineral at the JD -7 and JD -9 mines besides uranium. RESPONSE 10: The WQA evaluation looked at all metals for which there was a water quality standard on the receiving stream segment. At the time of preparation of this WQA, molybdenum standards had not been adopted by the WQCC, and at this time there are no segment specific standards for molybdenum in stream segment COGULDO3a, hence it was not included in the WQA. The WQCC did adopt agricultural and water supply standards for molybdenum, however neither the receiving stream segment nor the downstream segment are classified for water supply and therefore the water supply standard will likely not be applied by the WQCC without a change in use classification. For the agricultural standard to be applied to this segment, there are significant considerations that need to take place prior to having the ag based molybdenum standard applied (see footnote 16 to Table 3 of Regulation 31). As discussed in Comment and Response 6, groundwater issues are under the jurisdiction of the DRMS and all groundwater contamination issues should be directed to DRMS. There are no numeric surface water standards for vanadium to apply in the discharge permit. Also, the Federal ELG under 40 CFR 440.32, titled Ore Mining and Dressing Point Source Category; Subpart C — Uranium, Radium and Vanadium Ores subcategory do not include limitations for vanadium. COMMENT 11: TMDL and 303(d) list WQCD Must Prepare a TMDL for this Segment Prior to Approving Point Source Discharges WQCD cannot issue a permit for the discharge from waste rock piles and mine water which constitute additional sources and/or increase permitted discharges without first identifying whether the receiving waterbodies are compromised despite permit -based limits on point- source pollutant discharges and preparing the required TMDL. See, e.g., Friends of the Wild Swan v. U.S. Envtl. Protection Agency, 130 F. Supp. 2d 1199, 1203 (D. Mo. 2000) (holding that "until all necessary TMDLs are established for a particular WQLS, the EPA shall not issue any new permits or increase permitted discharge for any permit under the [NPDES] permitting program "), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, remanded by, Friends of the Wild Swan v. U.S. EPA, 2003 WL 31751849, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 15271 (9th Cir. Mont. 2003). At this time adequate TMDLs have not been established for the Dolores River and its tributaries which are affected by hundreds of permitted and unpermitted uranium mines. This problem is compounded by the omission of any monitoring requirements for iron. The WQA stated: Determination of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) — The Dolores River is on the 303(d) list of water quality impacted streams for total recoverable iron. Since the discharge is not expected to reach the Dolores River from any of the outfalls, monitoring for iron will not be required at this time. WQA at 11. However, there is no basis in the WQA to conclude that these mines are not hydrologically connected to the Dolores River or its tributaries. There is also no recognition that iron in groundwater below JD -7 has been measured at 24mg/L. Hydrological Report at 30 -31. Instead, as stated above, the groundwater immediately below the JD -7 has been asserted as tributary to the Dolores, providing a direct connection for iron to reach the Dolores River. Further, although the studies made some predictions on the time for the water to reach the Dolores River, the calculations were based only on porosity and permeability calculation, it explicitly omitted any calculation of travel time based on the extensive fracture system which characterizes the geology of this region. The impacted stream segments for this permit have been included on the "303(d) list of water quality impacted streams for total recoverable iron." WQA at 11. However, iron discharges have not received any analysis in the WQA. Importantly, iron is not on the list of monitoring constituents. Yet, just downgradient from the JD -7, the "highest iron concentration from a monitoring or production well was 24 mg /L" whereas the groundwater