07SA293 Advance Sheet Headnote The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 The Colorado Ground Water management Act beneficial use well appropriation

• Description: Colorado Supreme Court opinion regarding classifying use of water for coalbed methane production as a beneficial use.
• State: CO
• Date: 4/20/2009
• Title: 07SA293 Advance Sheet Headnote The Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 The Colorado Ground Water management Act beneficial use well appropriation
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Court Documents

under reasonably efficient practices to accomplish without waste
the purpose for which the appropriation is lawfully made."
§ 37- 92- 103(4), C.R.S. (2008). Under the language of the 1969
Act, the CBM process "uses" water -- by extracting it from the
ground and storing it in tanks -- to "accomplish" a particular
"purpose" -- the release of methane gas. The extraction of
water to facilitate CBM production is therefore a "beneficial
use" as defined in the 1969 Act.
Arguing against this interpretation, the Engineers and BP
assert that the use of the water during the CBM process cannot
be a "beneficial" one because the water is merely a nuisance.
They stress that the goal of the CBM process is to capture the
gas, not the water. The water, they continue, is simply an
unwanted byproduct of the process. In sum, they question how
the use of the water in this case can be termed "beneficial"
when they consider it to be a hindrance.
First, based on the gravel cases, we disagree. See Three
Bells Ranch Assocs. v. Cache La Poudre Water Users Assn, 758
P.2d 164 (Colo. .1988), and Ziqan Sand & Gravel, Inc. v. Cache La
Poudre Water Users Ass'n, 758 P.2d 175 (Colo. 1988). In Three
Bells and Zigan, gravel mining operators dug pits in the ground
that were deeper than the water table in order to excavate the
gravel. Three Bells, 758 P.2d at 166; Zigan, 758 P.2d at 177.
The gravel pits then filled up with water, some of which was
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