New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 8 - COAL MINING › Part 20 - PERFORMANCE STANDARDS - SURFACE COAL MINING OPERATIONS › Section 19.8.20.2020 - HYDROLOGIC BALANCE: SURFACE AND GROUND WATER MONITORING

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. Ground water.
(1) Ground water levels, subsurface flow and
				storage characteristics and the quality of ground water shall be monitored in a
				manner approved by the director, to determine the effects of surface coal
				mining operations on the recharge capacity of reclaimed land and on the
				quantity and quality of water in ground water systems in the permit and
				adjacent areas.
(2) When surface
				coal mining operations may affect the ground water systems which serve as
				aquifers which significantly ensure the hydrologic balance of water use on or
				off the permit and adjacent areas, ground water levels and ground water quality
				shall be periodically monitored. Monitoring shall include measurements from a
				sufficient number of wells and mineralogical and chemical analyses of aquifer,
				overburden and spoil that are adequate to reflect changes in ground water
				quantity and quality resulting from those activities. Monitoring shall be
				adequate to plan for modification of surface coal mining operations, if
				necessary, to minimize disturbance of the prevailing hydrologic
				balance.
(3) The director may
				specify additional hydrologic tests, including drilling, infiltration tests,
				and aquifer tests.
(4) Each person
				shall satisfy any requirements of the water quality control commission
				regulations.
(5) Ground-water
				monitoring data shall be submitted every 3 months to the director or more
				frequently as prescribed by the director. Monitoring reports shall include
				analytical results from each sample taken during the reporting period. When the
				analysis of any ground-water sample indicates noncompliance with the permit
				conditions, then the operator shall promptly notify the director and
				immediately take the actions provided for in Subsection A of 19.8.11.1113
				NMAC.
(6) Ground-water monitoring
				shall proceed through mining and continue during reclamation until bond
				release. The director may modify the monitoring requirements, including the
				parameters covered and the sampling frequency, if the operator demonstrates,
				using the monitoring data obtained under this paragraph, that:
(a) the operation has minimized disturbance
				to the hydrologic balance in the permit and adjacent area and prevented
				material damage to the hydrologic balance outside the permit area; water
				quantity and quality are suitable to support approved postmining land uses, and
				the water rights of other users have been protected or replaced; or
(b) monitoring is no longer necessary to
				achieve the purposes set forth in the monitoring plan approved under Paragraph
				(4) of Subsection B of 19.8.9.907 NMAC.
(7) If an operator can demonstrate by the use
				of the determination required under Subsection C of 19.8.9.907 NMAC and other
				available information that a particular water-bearing stratum in the proposed
				permit and adjacent areas is not one which serves as an aquifer which
				significantly ensures the hydrologic balance within the cumulative impact area;
				then monitoring of that stratum may be waived by the director.