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

production without a well permit and, where necessary, a decree
adjudicating an augmentation plan. Dist. Ct. Water Div. 7
Order: Motions for Summary Judgment, July 2, 2007. This direct
appeal followed.
We now affirm the water court. The 1969 Act defines
"beneficial use" as "the use of that amount of water that is
reasonable and appropriate 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. We
reject the Engineers' and BP's argument that water used in CBM
production is merely a nuisance rather than a "beneficial use."
On the contrary, the use of water in CBM production is an
integral part of the CBM process itself. The presence and
subsequent controlled extraction of the water makes the capture
of methane gas possible. As our precedent in the gravel cases
makes clear, the fact that the water used during the CBM process
may become a nuisance after it has been extracted from the
ground and stored in above - ground tanks (that is, after it has
been beneficially used) does not prevent a finding that the
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