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LAKE FORK
Impact/Purpose:
Lake Fork is a tributary to the Arkansas River. The water quality within the Lake Fork is adversely affected by mine-waste contamination releases. As a result it affects the water quality within the Arkansas River, which has been classified as a "303d" impaired waters of the State. There are numerous mine waste rock piles in the proposed work area. Surface water and adit discharges contacting these piles create acid mine drainage by geo-chemical reactions within the mine features. Surface run on from adjacent hillsides and run off from the waste piles also flow to the creeks, eventually adversely affecting Lake Fork. Recent water quality studies by the LFWWG and CMC NRMI within the watershed have identified Colorado Gulch as a contributor of metals loading into the Lake Fork. The sources of these metals have not yet been characterized for Colorado Gulch. Further characterization of the metals contamination source areas that is required before remediation efforts can begin.
The LFWWG group currently provides a focal point for federal, state, county, and private entities to obtain information and if needed, environmental services related to the watershed. The main objective of the LFWWG is to improve water quality in Lake Fork. Remedies are designed toward contamination source control, primarily through the elimination of surface water contact with the mine waste piles present at the Colorado Gulch, Dinero Tunnel, and other similar sites within the Sugarloaf Mining District. The members of the group include local landowners, the Lake County Board of Commissioners, the Upper Arkansas Council of Governments, the Colorado division of Public Health and Environment, the Colorado Division of Mining and Geology, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The Goals of this proposed work project are as follows: 1) Monitoring of Colorado Gulch water quality and identification of contamination sources. 2) Engineering Remediation Design of Colorado Gulch Contamination Sources.
Description:
The Lake Fork of the Arkansas River Watershed has been adversely affected through mining, water diversion and storage projects, grazing, logging, and other human influences over the past 120 years. It is the goals of the LFWWG to improve the health of Lake fork by addressing the effects of these issues. This work proposal addresses the poor water quality created by the historic mining activities in Colorado and Little Frying Pan Gulches within the Lake Fork Watershed. The group has recently completed a watershed-scale sampling program to determine existing water quality conditions. The group has also compiled a literature database of all available information regarding the watershed. From this information, we are able to identify the key areas requiring remediation. The LFWWG will continue to assess water quality, habitat conditions, and design remediation efforts as data accumulation, funding sources, and the goals of the LFWWG dictate. Additionally, the Lake Fork Watershed point and non-point source water quality issues are clearly identified as a major basin-wide concern within the Upper Arkansas Region 208 Water Quality Plan. Although the Lake Fork watershed is located near the Leadville, CO Superfund Site, it is not a part of any Superfund Project. Further, the efforts of the LFWWG to improve water quality of Lake Fork will help avoid Superfund involvement. Project Update, June 12, 2003: The project is anticipated to be completed by Fall of 2003. To date, low-flow sampling has been completed. A total of 83 samples were analyzed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife laboratory (38 total metals, 38 dissolved metals, 7 QA/QC samples). The second sampling event will occur during a high-flow event, possibly during the May to June time period. Another 83 samples will be analyzed and data will be compiled describing the source areas, fate & transport, etc. A preliminary inventory of mine-waste (source) features and mine-claim ownership has been completed. The conceptual engineering for the remedy has yet to be completed and is pending the results of more monitoring efforts.