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en roug t it iri X002, it revealed a complex crisis that had been building at <br />least since 1969, when the legislature attempted to incorporate groundwater man- <br />agement into the prior appropriation system governing surface water rights. <br />After the 1969 Water Rights and Administration Act became law, the state enjoyed <br />decades of some of the wettest weather in a century. This precipitation coincided <br />with the beginnings of unconstrained Front Range growth and the multiplication of <br />irrigation wells along the South Platte River. <br />The difficult balance between growth and drought was made more complicated in <br />2001, when the state supreme court ruled in Empire Lodge Homeowners Association <br />vs. Moyer, limiting the ability of the state engineer to approve short -term substitute <br />water supply plans. In response to Empire, the legislature allowed until 2006 for all well <br />users to file for long -term augmentation plans which must be approved in water court. <br />Augmentation plans are detailed, engineered plans that allow junior water rights <br />holders, such as well users, to pump water out of priority. The plans define how, <br />when and in what quantity they will replace to the river the water they consume, so <br />that other water rights holders will not be injured. <br />Under pressure to comply with this new state law and in the midst of a serious <br />drought, well owners faced scrutiny from dozens of junior and senior South Platte <br />River water rights holders. If any objections from these rights holders held up in court, <br />their plans couldn't be approved, and their wells would not be allowed to pump. The <br />well users felt cornered, and agreed to most of the required conditions. They also <br />formed groundwater subdistricts to address the substantial costs, bureaucracy <br />and complexity of getting these plans through water court. <br />Earlier this year, members of Central Colorado Water Conservancy <br />District's Well Augmentation Subdistrict, concerned about the <br />recent failure of a water lease critical to their augmenta- <br />tion plan, withdrew their application and postponed until <br />February 2007 a water court review to certify the plan. <br />Then on May 5, State Engineer Hal Simpson, in a <br />