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1 WELL REGULATION IN THE SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN OF COLORADO South Platte River Task Force Briefing Document June 2007 I. Chronology of Key Events Leading to Current Situation on the South Platte The current conflict between surface and ground water uses has been a long time in the making. The same tensions have existed for decades, and the legislature and state water officials have struggled to integrate uses of tri butary ground water into the priority system while protecting vested rights. The following chronology illustrates the long history of these issues, and the many legislative, administrative and judicial developments over the years. 1940s and 50s: Well Development Late 1940’s – REAs brought electric power to rural areas and turbine pump technology ¼ became available, making diversions of ground water significantly more feasible. Drought in early 1950s reduced surface supplies, leading to the construction of thousands ¼ of wells in South Platte, Arkansas and Rio Grande river basins. Legislation in 1957 required State Engineer to permit wells prior to construction, but was ¼ administrative only with no evaluation standards and therefore no basis to deny. 1960s: Passage of the Ground Water Management Act and Early Attempts at Regulation The General Assembly, in 1965, in response to the conflict between surface and ground ¼ water users passed §148-11-22, C.R.S. (1963, as amended). This new section gave the State Engineer the first tools for addressing the impact of wells on other vested water users. §148-11-22(1). The same year saw the passage of the Colorado Ground Water Management Act, §148-18-1 et seq. , C.R.S. (1963, as amended) (now codified at § 37-90- 101 et seq., C.R.S. (2006)) (“1965 Act”). These statutes put ground water within the regulatory authority of the State Engineer and for the first time allowed the State Engineer to deny a well permit application if the State Engineer found that there was no unappropriated water available or that the proposed well would materially injure other vested water rights. Well permits were not issued in over-appropriated basins of the South Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande. Although the 1965 Act subjected new wells to an injury analysis, it did not require wells to ¼ get a decreed water right, and did not provide for administration in priority of permitted wells. Thus, while the 1965 Act enunciated a regulatory connection between surface and ground water, actual priority administration was not possible because many wells had no adjudicated priority dates. 1 This article was prepared for the South Platte River Task Force based on information provide by several staff members the Colorado Division of Water Resources including Hal Simpson, Dick Wolfe, Kevin Rein, Jeff Deatherage, Jim Hall, Dave Nettles, Scott Cuthbert son, staff of the Attorney General’s Office, Alex Davis of the Department of Natural Resources and outside counsel of Jim Lochhead, Anne Castle and Bill Caile.