7776

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7776
• Author: Paddock, W. A. and W. C. Weiss.
• Title: A Primer on Colorado Water Law.
• USFW Year: 1986.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

nontributary ground water and designated
ground water.
Since that was written, in 1985, Senate bill 5 established a
fourth category of ground water -- "not nontributary" ground wa-
ter. How this type of ground water differs from tributary ground
water will be discussed below.
It remains true that, prior to constructing any well 89/ to ob-
tain ground water, it is necessary to obtain a well permit from
the proper authority.90/
A. Tributary ground water
All ground water is presumed to be tributary to the natural
stream.91/ As such, it is subject to the doctrine of prior ap-
propriat7lon.92/ However, since withdrawals of water by wells do
not have an immediate impact on the stream 93/, they are subject
to different standards of administration.947-
To implement these different standards of administration, the
state engineer has promulgated rules and regulations governing
the withdrawal of ground water in Water Divisions No. 1 95/, No.
2 96/ and No. 3 97/.
The rules and regulations in Water Division No. 1 require total
curtailment of all ground water diversions except from exempt
wells or nontributary wells after January 1, 1976. Thereafter, a
well may only operate if the owner of the well submits proof to
the division engineer 98/ and upon the basis of that proof the
division engineer finds:
(1) That the well is operating pursuant to
a decreed plan of augmentation, that the
well is operating pursuant to a decree as
an alternate point of diversion, or that a
change in point of diversion to the well
has been decreed for a surface water right;
or
(2) That the ground water appropriation
can be operated under its priority without
impairing the water supply to which a sen-
ior appropriator is entitled; or
(3) That the water produced by a well (is
nontributary ground water).
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