_GENERAL DOCUMENTS - C1981017 ‎(289)‎

• Permit No: C1981017
• IBM Index Class Name: GENERAL DOCUMENTS
• Doc Name: Bid Documents ‎(IMP)‎
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

measured in suspended solids, has improved since 1978 . There is
virtually no variation in the TSS concentrations, all of which are
very low, since 1984 .
6 . Water Ouality on the Crystal River. The USGS data cover
several stations on the Crystal River, and some historical data for
Coal Creek. The most telling data are conductivity analyses for
the Station on the Crystal above Avalanche Creek. (Avalanche Creek
discharges to the Crystal downstream of the Coal Creek discharge. )
Conductivity on the Crystal River ranges from 120 to 1200; on Coal
Creek at station #20, conductivity ranges from 168 to 1900 . The
average on Coal Creek is 579; on the Crystal River it is 403 . A
single measurement below Carbondale is 220; the average of two
samples on the Crystal above Coal Creek is 232 .
Apparently, Coal Creek has a higher conductivity than the Crystal
River, but the Crystsl River receives dissolved solids from more
than Coal Creek. Flow in the Crystal above Avalanche Creek is
about 15 times greater than Coal Creek; however, the conductivity
of Coal Creek is only 1.4 times greater than the Crystal at that
point. In order for the Crystal to have the high conductivity that
it does after a 15x dilution below Coal Creek, there would have to
be a significant contribution of dissolved solids from other
sources.
COMMENTS :
It is not clear to me how the parameters that have been
ordinarily measured were chosen. For instance, I would
anticipate that water quality parameters would be chosen based
on some a priori knowledge about the composition of
potentially deliterious components of the coal and waste that
might contribute to a waste stream. For coal and the
associated waste rocks, I would anticipate seeing analyses of
certain metals, perhaps uranium, maybe phosphate, nitrate
(from blasting) , and components of sediment. Most of these
analyses are not generally available.
In addition, in order to monitor the general water quality
with time I would anticipate seeing analyses of major cations
and anions. In most natural waters, the major cations are
Cat+, Mg2+, Na2+, and K+ and the major anions are CO32-, HCO3,
SO42 , and Cl . Cl and K+ data are not generally available, and
this surprises me, given the probability that the former is
likely to be present in arid settings and that the latter is
likely to be derived from clays.
Even the parameters monitored for the NPDES discharge point
fall short of the type of analysis that would allow one to
conduct a proper evaluation of anything other than a select
suite of contaminant species .