2012-07-02_REPORT - C1980007 (3)

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West Elk Mine 2011 Annual Hydrology Report P 3.1 Surface Water Monitoring Program The surface lands of the West Elk Mine are drained to the north by the North Fork of the Gunnison River, to the south by Minnesota Creek, to the west by Gribble Gulch, and to the east by Deep Creek /Raven Gulch. The surface water monitoring program for the permit area includes 23 stream stations comprised of 10 sites with continuous recording devices and 13 sites with instantaneous flow devices. In WY 2008, eight surface water temperature monitoring sites were added to the monitoring program as discussed in Section 3.1.5. The stream surface water monitoring sites are divided into three general hydrologic areas for discussion purposes: • Stations in the Upper North Fork Drainage Basin. • Stations in the Lower North Fork Drainage Basin. • Stations in the Minnesota Creek Drainage Basin. The locations of the 23 surface water monitoring stations are shown on Map 2 and the eight temperature monitoring site locations are shown on Figure 8. The following discussion of the surface water stations on the major drainages and the tributaries to these drainages is presented from upstream to downstream areas. A summary of the surface water monitoring program details is presented in Table 3 and a discussion of the WY 2011 hydrologic impacts is presented in Section 5.1 of this report. The temperature data monitoring site details are summarized in Table 4. June 2012 HydroGeo, Inc.