|
303(d) - The section of the Clean Water Act that has the TMDL requirements. The 303(d) list is a list of all impaired or threatened waters within the jurisdiction of a State, Territory, or authorized Tribe.
Acute Water Quality Standards - Acute toxicity means a substance has been introduced that is severe enough to rapidly induce a response. In toxicity tests, a response is normally observed in 96 hours or less. Acute effects are often measured in terms of mortality or other debilitating effects. Acute water quality standards are set for individual pollutants at a level designed to protect 95 percent of the species in an aquatic community from acute effects, 95 percent of the time.
ADIT - A type of entrance to an underground mining shaft which is horizontal or nearly horizontal. Adits are usually built into the side of a hill or mountain, and often occur when a measure of coal or an ore body is located inside the mountain but above the adjacent valley floor or coastal plain. The use of adits is generally called drift mining.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
AQUIFER - A body of rock that contains sufficient saturated permeable material to conduct groundwater and to yield significant quantities of water to wells and springs.
BOG - A bog is a wetland type that accumulates acidic peat, a deposit of dead plant material. The term peat bog in common usage is not entirely redundant, although it would be proper to call these sphagnum bogs if the peat is composed mostly of acidophilic moss.
Chronic Water Quality Standards - The highest water concentration of a toxin to which organisms can be exposed indefinitely without causing chronic toxicity. Chronic toxicity is a negative effect that lingers or continues for a long period of time, often one-tenth the life span or more. A chronic effect can be mortality, reduced growth, reproduction impairment, harmful changes in behavior, or other nonlethal effects. Chronic water quality standards are set for individual pollutants at a level designed to protect the aquatic community, or human or wildlife consumers of aquatic organisms, from any long-term adverse effects.
DO - dissolved oxygen. Oxygen is necessary to maintain a healthy ecosystem for fish and other aquatic life in a waterbody.
DRIFTS - The tunnels that are dug are horizontal and are called drifts. Whenever possible, the opening to the mine will be dug a little lower than the rock or mineral vein. This makes it easier to get the materials out because gravity helps move them downhill.
DUMP - A pile of ore, coal, or waste at a mine.
Eutrophication - The aging process by which lakes are fertilized with nutrients. Natural eutrophication will very gradually change the character of a lake. Cultural eutrophication is the accelerated aging of a lake as a result of human activities.
Exceedences - The number of times a water quality standard or a permit limit was exceeded. Violations of a permit limit or a water quality standard.
Fecal Coliform bacteria - Bacteria that originate in the intestinal tract of a mammal. Not all fecal coliform bacteria cause disease, but this relatively simple test is used as an indicator that fecal matter is getting into the waterbody, and that other potentially harmful contaminants may be also be entering the waterbody. The main sources of these bacteria are from animal and human waste. Animal sources of bacteria include feedlot and manure runoff, urban runoff, and wildlife. Improperly treated human waste may come from overflows from sewage treatment systems in cities and towns, unsewered areas with inadequate community or individual wastewater treatment, or a single home with a failing septic system.
FEN - A fen is a type of wetland fed by alkaline, mineral-rich groundwater and characterized by a distinctive flora. Fens are often confused with bogs, which are fed primarily by rainwater and often inhabited by sphagnum moss, making them acidic. Like other wetlands, fens will ultimately fill in and become a terrestrial community such as a woodland through the process of ecological succession.
GOOD SAMARITAN ACTION - An action taken for the benefit of part or all of the community at large rather than for that of the doer. In the context of this report, it usually refers to the correction of some prior detrimental environmental legacy as a convenience or as a public service, but without direct personal or institutional benefit.
GROUNDWATER - Underground water.
HARDROCK - Locatable minerals that are neither leasable minerals (oil, gas, coal, oil shale, phosphate, sodium, potassium, sulphur, asphalt, or gilsonite) nor saleable mineral materials (e.g. , common variety sand and gravel). Hardrock minerals include, but are not limited to, copper, lead, zinc, magnesium, nickel, tungsten, gold, silver, bentonite, barite, feldspar, fluorspar, and uranium.
Impaired waterbody - A waterbody that does not meet water quality standards and designated uses because of pollutant(s), pollution, or unknown causes of impairment.
Load - The quantity that is or can be carried at one time, as compared to a concentration. A pollutant load is the quantity of a pollutant that a waterbody is carrying measured at a point in time.
MINERAL - Several other common meanings, but the following is used in this report: Any natural resource extracted from the earth for human use; e.g., ores, salts, coal, or petroleum.
MINERAL DEPOSIT - A mineral occurrence of sufficient size and grade that it might, under favorable circumstances, be considered to have economic potential.
Nonpoint Sources - Pollution in runoff and seepage from land areas. The major origins of nonpoint source pollution include agricultural runoff; pesticide and fertilizer use; feedlot runoff; urban runoff from streets, yards, and construction sites; leachate from septic systems; runoff from forestry and mining activities; highway de-icing chemicals; and dredging and drainage activities.
NTU - nephelometric turbidity units. A unit of measure for turbidity values. Turbidity measured in NTU uses nephelometric methods that depend on passing specific light of a specific wavelength through the sample.
ORE - A concentration of minerals that can be mined processed and marketed at a profit. It is economically defined.
ORE MINERALS - A deposit of ore minerals in geological terms is not always an ore deposit. While an ore mineral is a mineral from which a metal can feasibly be extracted, an ore deposit (or an orebody) is a mass of rock from which a metal or mineral can be profitably produced. What is, or is not, becomes dependent upon economic, technological, and political factors as well as geological criteria.
OXIDATION - The reaction of ores or waste with oxygen (usually above the water table); in sulfide ores this results in the release of sulfuric acid that, in the absence of neutralization, mobilizes iron, copper, zinc, and other minerals.
PATENT - Concerning the ownership of a mining claim: as a noun, A document that conveys title to the ground; or the process of securing a patent.
Point Sources - Pollution from municipal and industrial facilities, usually entering a waterbody via discharge from a pipe or a discrete channel.
Pollutant - Any sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes, discharged into a disposal system or to waters of the state.
RAISE – A raise is an inclined opening driven upward from a level to connect with the level above, or to explore the ground for a limited distance
Reach - A section of a river or stream that generally extends from one tributary to another, or sometimes from a tributary to a dam or other feature. A reach is typically less than 20 miles in length. Water quality assessments of use support are made on individual river reaches using monitoring data for that reach, and other supporting data and information.
Riparian - Of, on or relating to the banks of a natural course of water. The landscape areas adjacent to a stream or river that have vegetation, soil, and hydrologic mosaics that are distinct from the predominate landscape surface types. In a broad sense, the riparian zone is both a transition and interface between riverine and upland systems. Functionally and structurally, riparian areas are different from surrounding uplands because of proximity to a watercourse. Riparian areas have unique features that provide desirable habitat for a variety of species. The same features that make these ecosystems relatively rare and important also make them relatively sensitive. Hydrologic changes to the waterbody also alter the associated riparian ecosystem. Riparian ecosystems generally occupy relatively small areas, and their occurrence along waterways makes them vulnerable to severe alteration caused by a variety of development activities.
Suspended Solids - Suspended solids limit sunlight, inhibit oxygen uptake by fish and alter aquatic habitat.
SHAFT - A primary vertical or non-vertical opening through mine strata used for ventilation or drainage and/or for hoisting of personnel or materials; connects the surface with underground workings.
TAILINGS - As used in this report, the waste from mineral beneficiation. They are usually regarded as liabilities, but under some circumstances they may be reprocessed to recover additional values.
TMDL - Total maximum daily load. The maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet water quality standards. TMDL also refers to the process of allocating pollutant loadings among point and nonpoint sources.
Turbidity - Measures particles in the water, such as sediment and algae. Related to the depth sunlight can penetrate into the water. Higher turbidities reduce the penetration of sunlight in the water and can affect species of aquatic life that survive in the waterbody.
WASTE - Within a given mineral deposit ore minerals are normally associated with other minerals which are less valuable or lack value. The rock which does not contain an adequate percentage of ore minerals to be economically valuable as a source of these minerals is called waste. Waste, like ore, is an economic rather than a geologic term, and changing technology, economic, or political conditions may change waste to ore, or back again, many times.
WASTE - A secondary or tertiary inclined opening, vertical or near-vertical opening driven upward form a level to connect with the level above, or to explore the ground for a limited distance above one level.
WATERSHED - A drainage basin or river catchment meaning the region of land whose water drains into a specified body of water
WETLAND - Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
WINZE - Similar to a raise is a winze, which goes vertically downward from a drift—neither a raise or a winze will extend to the surface.
ACRONYMS
ALS – Aquatic Life Standards – State Water Quality Standards
CCWC – Coal Creek Watershed Coalition
CDPHE – Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
CDRMS – Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety
EE/CA – Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
ERA – Ecological Risk Assessment
FOCC – Friends of Coal Creek Newsletter
HCCA – High Country Citizens’’ Alliance
HHRA – Human Health Risk Assessment
RMBL – Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory
SMAG – Standard Mine Advisory Group
SMTAG – Standard Mine Technical Advisory Group
USFS – United States Forest Service
|
