Colorado State Water Plan 1974 ‎(Phase II)‎

• Year: 1974
• Title: Colorado State Water Plan
• CWCB Section: Agency-wide
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

State Water Laws, Policies, and Administration
Nontributary Ground Water
The Colorado Ground Water Management Act makes all "designated ground
waters" in the State subject to appropriation as modified by the act and in the
manner defined in the act. Designated ground water generally is nontributary
ground water within the geographic boundaries of a ground water basin, and is so
designated by the State Ground Water Commission after certain procedures and
upon the basis of certain criteria listed in the act. From time to time, as adequate
factual data become available and after publication of notice and hearings, the
commission determines designated ground water basins after making findings on
the names and boundaries of aquifers within a basin, the estimated annual rate of
recharge, the estimated use of ground water in the area, and the number of users
withdrawing water during the 15 year period preceding the determination. After
designation of a ground water basin, any person desiring to appropriate ground
water therein must apply to the commission for a permit to do so.
If the proposed appropriation will not unreasonably impair existing rights
or create unreasonable waste, the commission grants the permit subject to such
reasonable conditions and limitations as the commission may specify. In
determining the effect of a proposed appropriation on existing rights, the
commission must consider the area and geologic conditions, the average annual
yield and recharge rate of the supply, the priority and quantity of existing claims,
the proposed method of use, and other matters appropriate to such questions. The
commission may formulate appropriate tests for determining what may constitute
unreasonable lowering of the water level beyond reasonable economic limits of
withdrawal or use. In one designated basin, a 3-mile radius test by which the
commission denied new applications was upheld by the courts. There, pumping
of wells within a 3-mile radius of a proposed well was already sufficient to deplete
available water by 40 percent over 25 years time. The court held that the commission
was justified in using the test in concluding there was no longer any unappropriated
water available.
Although priority of claims within designated ground water basins is
determined by priority of appropriation, the procedures are different from those
for determining the priority of claims for surface water appropriations and of
appropriations of ground water tributary to a natural stream. Priorities of
appropriation in designated ground water basins are determined, after hearing,
by the State Ground Water Commission. Appropriations based on actual taking
and use of ground water before the effective date of the 1965 Ground Water
Management Act are related back to the date of original use. Claims initiated
after the effective date of the act are dated from the filing of an application with
the commission.
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