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one-half mile from the Purgatoire River. Drainage area of the canyon <br /> is 7566 acres with cover comprised mostly of woodland. Grazing and <br /> wildlife are the major land uses. Mining is also a land use with two <br /> shafts and a power substation located in the canyon. The spring and <br /> seep survey (Appendix 4) monitored two seeps and one USGS spring, none <br /> of which were major contributions to stream flow. As with Santistevan <br /> Canyon , water monitoring in Apache Canyon has been discontinued until <br /> longwall mining commences under the canyon. <br /> 3. 2 Ground Water <br /> Six wells in the Purgatoire River alluvium and one well in <br /> each of Apache and Ciruela Canyons were monitored monthly during 1987. <br /> Generally, wells within the Purgatoire alluvium responded directly to <br /> the level of water in the river. Wells in the two canyons responded <br /> primarily to precipitation received in the drainage . All data is <br /> contained in Table 2-1 through 2-8 of Appendix 1 . Table 2-9 summarizes <br /> all data collected over the previous three years of monitoring. <br /> Wells PAW-1 and PAW-2 were established to monitor the <br /> existing refuse pile at the New Elk Mine. The summary presented in <br /> Table 2-9 indicates some differences in water quality between the two <br /> wells . PAW-1 is a calcium-bicarbonate water. PAW-2 has a higher <br /> ionization of the water and higher concentrations of TDS, conductivity, <br /> iron, manganese, sodium, sulfate, calcium, magnesium and bicarbonate. <br /> These elevated levels indicate that the coal refuse is leaching into <br /> the alluvial aquifer. The main difference was an increase in <br /> conductivity from a mean of 336 at PAW-1 to 723 at PAW-2. Water in <br /> PAW-2 is a mixed calcium/sodium-bicarbonate type. Metals analyzed for <br /> PAW-1 were near or below detection limits while iron and manganese was <br /> elevated at station PAW-2. <br /> During March and April of 1985, 500 feet of the Middle Fork <br /> of the Purgatoire River was diverted to the north to create additional <br /> room for the coal stockpile at the New Elk Preparation Plant. As the <br /> diversion was cut through an existing refuse disposal area , two <br /> 15 <br />