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aquifers is tributary, the Colorado Constitution requires that withdrawals not be allowed to deplete the surface stream systems (South Platte and Arkansas river basins) to the injury of senior surface water rights. At the same time, tributary ground water in the Denver Basin aquifers, like nontributary ground water, is subject to mining and the same policy considerations regarding conservation apply. The General Assembly dealt with the dual as- pects of tributary Denver Basin ground water in Senate bill 5 by creating the classification of "not nontributary" ground water. Such water is treated like tributary ground water insofar as its withdrawal requires the augmentation of surface streams,107/ but is treated like nontributary ground water insofar as it is allo- cated based on land ownership and a 100 year aquifer life.108/ Senate bill 5 directed the state engineer to promulgate rules for the withdrawal of ground water from the Denver Basin aquifers-by December 31, 1985.109/ The state engineer met this statutory deadline 110/ and the Denver Basin Rules are currently before the water court for judicial review.lll/ Senate bill 5 also permit- ted the state engineer to promulgate other rules for granting or denying well permits for nontributary ground water and other ground water in the Denver Basin aquifers.112/ The state engi- neer elected to promulgate statewide rules which took effect on March 3, 1986.113/ C. Designated ground water Designated ground water is still another statutory classification of ground water, established by the Colorado Ground Water Manage- ment Act ("1965 Act"), sections 37-90-101 to 141, C.R.S. (1973 & 1985 Supp.). The definition of designated ground water provides in pertinent part: "Designated ground water" means that ground water which in its natural course would not be available to and required for the ful- fillment of decreed surface rights, or ground water in areas not adjacent to a continuously flowing natural stream wherein ground water withdrawals have constituted the principal water usage for at least fif- teen years preceding the date of the first hearing on the proposed designation of the basin, and which in both cases is within the geographic boundaries of a designated ground water basin. "Designated ground wa- ter" shall not include any ground water -17-