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Development of the Regulatory Framework for Denver Basin Aquifers' GLENN GRAHAM2,3 GEORGE VANSLYKE2,3 1. Manuscript received July 8, 2004; Accepted July 24, 2004 2. Consulting Groundwater Geologist 3. Formerly with the Colorado Division of Water Resources ABSTRACT The resource potential of the Denver Basin aquifers was recognized as early as the 1880s, but devel- opment, regulation and administration of Colorado's groundwater did not begin until 1959, and regula- tions specific to the Denver Basin were not implemented until over 100 years later, in 1985. The Colorado Division of Water Resources (CDWR) began an appraisal of the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers in the fall of 1970. This study resulted in the 1976 publication Ground Water Resources of the Bedrock Aquifers of the Denver Basin Colorado by John C. Romero. More detailed work in the late 1970s and early 1980s by the Division of Water Resources and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) formed the technical base for the promulgation of the Denver Basin Rules and Regulations mandated by Senate Bill 5, in 1985. Population growth along the Front Range in the 1970s came with increasing reliance on groundwater contained in the bedrock aquifers. Projected increasing water demands based on continued growth caused concerned individuals and organizations to raise questions about long -term water supplies in general, and on the wisdom of depending on a finite groundwater source in particular. The voicing of these concerns resulted in the creation of a Ground Water Task Group. The group was comprised of water attorneys, members of the water rights and engineering consulting community, and staff of the CDWR. The group was to identify the resource and make recommendations for the development of groundwater from bedrock aquifers. As a result of the work done by the task group, a Ground Water Legislation Committee was formed in 1983 to propose laws that would guide the development of groundwater in bedrock aquifers. Particu- lar attention was to be given to that part of the resource identified as nontributary groundwater, which had been loosely defined as groundwater not in hydraulic connection with waters of the surface. In some parts of the state, any groundwater stored in bedrock type aquifers located more than about 150 feet below the surface was considered nontributary groundwater. Two years later, the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 85 -5, An Act for the Administration of Water. In response to this legislative mandate, the CDWR developed the Denver Basin Model utilizing MODFLOW, and published the Denver Basin Atlas maps. These data sets have remained essentially unchanged since 1988. At the present time there are two coordinated efforts examining the currently available data specific to the Denver Basin bedrock aquifers. Camp Dresser McKee (CDM) and the USGS are identifying and compiling aquifer parameter data to be used in an upgraded groundwater model of the bedrock aquifers and associated alluvial aquifers. INTRODUCTION .........................154 CURRENT STUDIES .....................158 HYDROGEOLOGIC SETTING ................154 CONCLUSIONS ........................159 REGULATORY HISTORY ....................155 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................159 REFERENCES ...........................160 The Mountain Geologist, Vol. 41, No. 4 (October 2004), p 153 -160 153 The Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists