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8.d) Zavoral Mine Water Monitoring 2013 Annual report-WCDAs INGTON ONSERVATION I S T R I C T MEMORANDUM TO: Kristina Handt, Administrator, City of Scandia 455 IIAYWAJ�D AVE N C1AKaALE kiN 551 a8 FROM: Erik Anderson, Water Resource Specialist DATE: January 15, 2014 RE: Zavoral Mining and Reclamation Project — Annual Surface Water Monitoring Report As per the contract (13-01) between the Washington Conservation District (WCD) and the City of Scandia, WCD staff performed surface water monitoring tasks pertaining to Technical Service 1 of Exhibit B. This memorandum serves as a summary of those activities. The Washington Conservation District installed stream monitoring equipment at two locations on Zavoral Creek in 2013. One site is located at the monitoring point that was installed for the EIS pump test near the creek mouth (referred to simply as Zavoral Creek), the other site is located upstream of all groundwater inputs to the creek (Crystal Springs). This paired monitoring setup can be used to help determine sources of impacts to Zavoral Creek by potentially either eliminating or supporting the mine as a source. Continuous turbidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature, specific conductivity, stage, velocity, and discharge data were collected at both locations. Water quality samples were collected during base and storm flow at Zavoral Creek and analyzed for total & volatile suspended sediments. No samples were collected at Crystal Springs. Equipment at both locations was installed on 6/12/13 with the intention of gathering baseline data previous to the commencement of mining activities. Due to the harsh winter weather, all equipment was removed at Crystal Springs on 10/31/13 and the stage/flow recorder was removed at Zavoral Creek on 11/14/13. At the time of this report, all other parameters are still being recorded. Macroinvertebrate samples were collected in June and September to be used as baseline data for comparisons to future data collection. Results/ Conclusions/ Recommendations Surface water data collected at Zavoral Creek and Crystal Springs from 6/12/13 — 12/31/13 were analyzed by the WCD for this summary. To date, data results do not indicate any impacts to the stream caused by the mining operations. It should be noted, quick unsustained spikes in turbidity have been recorded at both stream monitoring locations, independent of each other, previous to any mining activities occurring, and in the absence of recorded rainfall. Possible explanations for these anomalies include logger error, sediment adhering to the sensor, animal activity in the stream, or some other natural phenomenon. These data have been included in the final dataset to show that very short fluctuations in stream turbidity have been recorded previous to and outside of any mining activities. A reading of 1616 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) was recorded at Zavoral Creek on 11/17/13 at 8:00 pm (after site preparation but before any hauling activity began) and is not thought to be a result of any mining activities, mainly due to the time it occurred and the adjacent 15 -minute periods recorded 0 NTU. This is an example of sediment possibly adhering to the sensor or some other cause of a quick anomaly in the data. Tables and hydrographs showing the data collected at Zavoral Creek and Crystal Springs in 2013 can be found at the end of this report. Groundwater data collected by Leggette, Brashears, and Graham, Inc. was compared to the surface water data to determine if a correlation exists between the two datasets. The groundwater elevation data suggests that groundwater is potentially flowing in a southeast direction towards Middle Creek. Currently no monitoring activities are taking place on Middle Creek and in order to assess any groundwater impacts on the creek, it is recommended that a surface water monitoring station collecting the same continuous parameters Supervisors: Louise Smallidge - Bob Rosenquist o George Weyer o John Rheinberger - Jim Levitt as the existing stations be installed. I recommend monitoring the same locations on Zavoral Creek and Crystal Springs in 2014, following the same procedures and methods as in 2013. 2013 Zavoral Creek Crystal Springs Average Baseflow Discharge (cfs) 0.27 No baseflow Peak Discharge (cfs)* 0.69 1.66 Average Baseflow Turbidity (NTU) 0 No baseflow Peak Turbidity (NTU)** 854 2268 * Discharge was not collected at Zavoral Creek during the Crystal Springs peak discharge event **Excludes anomaly data cfs: cubic feet per second NTU: Nephelometric Turbidity Units 2500 -500 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Turbidity, Bone lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 1 1 iei -4f�`___ ,1 j 111 I'll I 91 11 ,' ,;1; Ijl � t}AI I la Crystal Springs Turbidity Zavoral Creek Turbidity 1 1 a Bone Lake Precipitation 1 1 ■ � ,° 1' 1 1 1' 1 1 1 1 ■ � 1� 1� 11 1 11 111 111 1 � 1 1 jr� 11 11 11 11 11 11 1111 11 11 I I 1 11 1111 11� 1 11 11 1 I I 11 11 1 1 It fl qll f' ,1 `l: � 11 la a. y u Altia1 PlP atpri )IS h*.d 714413 a/23,113 10112/13 12/1}13 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 c 0 �o EL 0.8 a` 1 1.4 o� 0 0 0 0 a an N 0 0 0 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Stage, Bone Lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 c 0.8 a` 1 1.2 1.4 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Discharge, Bone lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 1.8 r 1 ,1 1, 11 , 1 1 1 1 I ----------1 r -r r 0 1 tl f 0 ;; I j1j11 k i ;1 i 1 1 11 4P11 i i i W1' `r 1 1 i i i 0 1 11 0 1 ! IPI ! I A I 1 1 1 1 1 1 191 ; —� Crystal Springs Discharge 1 i11 1fu i1 r ,i i 1� ' i ii i1 i1 '1 ii,1 i��i1 3 1.6 Zavoral Creek Discharge 1 ;0� 11 i 1 11 a 11 11 1111 11,1 ------- Bone Lake Precipitation 1 1 11 11 1' 11, 1 11 1 1 • I1 11 11 1, 01 0.2 1 I 11 11 11 11 1 11 1 1 • 11 11 01 1, 1 1 11 �1 1� 11 I 1, ,111 • 11 11 11 11 1.4 , 1 • 11 11 1 1, 111, 1 11 „ 1 01i 10 11 M11 11 j1 0.4 1.2 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 7/4/13 8/23/13 10/12/13 12/1/13 0.6 c 0.8 a` 1 1.2 1.4 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Temperature, Bone Lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 30 ' 11 11 i° 1 °1 ------ -�--i l--rr---------------------�� ---•�- 1 1 ,1°x'11 1 1 1 1 IJ'' ° 1 i i -.�. 6 1° , 1 1 1 , 1 0 1; °L/ 1; ; 1 1 1 11 • ; ; 1 1 11 ; , 1 �1 1 1 1 Crystal Springs Temperature Zavoral Creek Temperature 1 1 11 �, 11 1 11111 , 1 11 11 11 11 „ . 1111 ,,,1 1 1� 1 1 ,/� 1, 11 j1 1' 11 1 11111 1 11111 ,/1 ;/1 '1 • 1, 11 „ 1° M 11 11 ■ 1111 ,,,1 i Iljl ;;'� ------- Bone Lake Precipitation ii 0.2 25 1 111 1 1 / 11 1 1 1' 11 1 °I 111 ■ " 10 0.4 20 1 1 ■ 1 1 ■ 1 11 11 ° B 1 11 ,1 11 ;; Po 1 1 ■ {{{jjj ° ,1 n 11 , 1 ° ,1 „ ■ V 11 ii i� ° i ,0 p / ■ e 0.6 C 0 *' / 15 > A CL E i ai 0.8 a` • 10 � • 1 1.� IQW HOW 0 1.4 5/15/13 7/4/13 8/23/13 10/12/13 12/1/13 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Dissolved Oxygen, Bone lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 14 0 r ----t r, -----, i i -* -- - r i ---, T, 0 , Z� r as ya ■w + ,- � w ri i + i i` �� ww I iwA I I i r± rIgwg'i 0. , w� I � I■w I � '. wf'l 1aa �5 � ■ ! �'� 11 e6 0.4 n • Crystal Springs DO 8 „w o ry o Zavoral Creek DO tw ,r ------- Bone Lake Precipitation 0.6 c d ' o X 6 o O *' d ' >d 0 0.8 a` JA 4 1 2 1.2 0� T 5/115/13 7/4/13 8/23/13 10/12/13 12/1/13 -2 1.4 Zavoral Creek & Crystal Springs Specific Conductivity, Bone Lake Monitoring Station Daily Precipitation 600 1, 1 11 ,1 /, Tf1 I 1 --_--_ ----------V-1---- .1 ----s --/ I I/ 1 / , q � 1 V I, � W�° e r i l! ' l' � � i i 91Soo 7r. 0.2 Crystal Springs Conductivity 400 _jlj 'i, 0.4 11„ I 1 ,1 „ Zavoral Creek Conductivity 11„ 11„ 1 I t I 11 1 1 1 1 1° 11 1° 11 Ilr "• t I 19 9 1 1° 11 °' '°------- Bone Lake Precipitation u , t 300 " 1 0.6 5 � .> I I o V 3 B 1 1 M M C I •Q. O U i v a 200 ! 0.8 Q 100 1 0 -� 1.2 5/15/13 1 7/4/13 8/23/13 10/12/13 12/1/13 -100 1.4