BOARD01761

• Board Meeting Date: 3/17/1976
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

town in the farming area of St. Charles Mesa, about a month ago a
group of residents, primarily on the St. Charles Mesa, called a
meeting with two of our legislators. The thrust of the meeting was
the fact that they want their domestic wells limited to domestic use.
The St. Charles Mesa was entirely a farming area not too many years
ago, but it is now a fast growing suburban area with a great deal of
residential construction. The usual pattern is .that water rights are I
sold off and the dry land is converted to residential use. Many of
the people have put in domestic wells. The law has a provision which
limits them to in-house use. They have quite often used the we1ls for
.irrigation and have in fact treated them as substitute water that they
have sold to someone else. I want to compliment our division state
engineer, Bob Jesse. I feel that the division is very much aware of
this problem. The problem that I think exists is a very serious one.
When they passed domestic well legislation, it was an exemption to the
decree system. This created a problem with the priority system, since
these wells are not on priority. 'The law restricted the uses to
domestic-use, but that use in some cases is being enlarged upon to
include irrigation. They are not on call. They cannot be regulated by
the state engineer. This is for domestic use only, but now we're
faced with the use of wells for other than domestic purposes and they're
using it for unlimited irrigation. You no longer have a priority water
system and the problem that this presents, I think, is fairly great.
I would hope, Larry, that perhaps in conjunction with the state engineer
and the Attorney General's office, this abuse can be stopped. In con-
junction with them, I would hope that perhaps this board would want to
make some recommendations as to what could be done in this area.

MR. FETCHER: I have a question. It says domestic use only?

MR. JACKSON: Not the last version. The last is exemption for domestic
wells. Mr. Robbins, it's strictly in-house use, not outside use, and
perhaps it's too stringent, but that's what:it says, right?

MR. ROBBINS: 10-42(1). Yes. They amerided the law to give the right
to irrigate -- say 1,000 square feet -- roughly, say, relative to a
ci ty lot - - 1,000 square feet of laWn" aridgga:t\denaandumgy,be cthere iis <.an
answer to it, but something needs to be done.

MR. STAPLETON: Any other business? (No response.)

All right, then. I call your attention to the meeting of the 11th and
12th of May in Pueblo.

MR. SPARKS: What we have planned, Mr. Chairman, is to tour the Pueblo I
Reservoir site on the afternoon of the 11th. The board kicked off the
construction of the Pueblo Reservoir some years ago. It is now
completed and we would like to take a tour of it on the. 11th around
2:00 o'clock in the afternoon. It will.take us some two hours. We
would be pleased to have Mr. Pickrel join us for dinner that night,
whom you know is retiring as a member of our board.

MR. KROEGER: I would like to comment on the July 23 meeting. This is

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