Headwaters Spring 2006

• Year: 2006
• Title: Headwaters
• Author: Colorado Foundation for Water Education
• Description: From Peak to Prairie, Colorado's Water Makes the Scene
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

ALAMOSA -The fate of proposed state
rules governing new groundwater with-
drawals from the San Luis Valley's
confined aquifer rests in the hands of
District Judge O. John Kuenhold.
In 1998, the Colorado General
Assembly passed House Bill 1011, and
Senate Bill 222, passed in 2004, recogniz-
ing the valley's unique hydrology and the
need to protect existing water rights and
the state's Rio Grande Compact deliv-
ery obligations to downstream states. In
response to those pieces of legislation,
Colorado Division of Water Resources
State Engineer Hal Simpson promul-
gated rules governing new groundwater
withdrawals on June 30, 2004.
But some don't think the state's rules
are fair, and have been protesting them
in water court in Alamosa throughout
February and March. Challenging the
state's rules as unconstitutional are the
Colorado Association of Home Builders,
San Luis Valley Water Company and
Cotton Creek Circles, whose case centers
on the "rules governing new withdrawls
of ground water in Division 3 affecting
the rate or direction of movement of
water in the confined aquifer system."
Defending the proposed rules are
the Attorney General's office repre-
senting the state; Rio Grande Water
Users Association; Rio Grande Water
Conservation District; and the Conejos
Water Conservancy District.
Judge Kuenhold is presiding over
the case which went to trial on January
30 and was scheduled to conclude on
March 9. The six -week trial included
testimony from more than a dozen
witnesses testifying on behalf of the
state's rules and a half -dozen witnesses
opposing them.
Proponents of the rules argue the
Valley's water situation is unique, with a
unique hydrologic structure. They also