WSP02803

• File Number: 8029
• Description: Section D General Correspondence - Colorado Agencies
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 2/27/1961
• Author: David J Miller
• Title: Ground Water - Liability of Asset-Child or Foundling
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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hydrology, meteorology, soil science and other fields of agriculture.
All in some way relate to the occurrence of ground water; its measure-
ment in volume, depth, rate of movement, age, source, replenishment,
depletion, recharge, transmissibility, and recovery; its relation to
precipitation, evaporation and infiltration; its use by plant life; its
place in the hydrologic cycle; the results of ground water withdrawal
upon other parts of the aquifer; the fluctuations of the water table;
the effect of its withdrawal upon stream flow, seepage, water logging
and drainage; its waste, efficiency of use, and conservation; the
efficiency of pumping equipment; improved methods of irrigation; its
use in domestic water systems, and in industry. All available facts
should be compiled and collated. We need more scientific data and
knowledge of these and many other fields.

The legal problems are manifold. Does the state have
'the right to determine ownership, control and the right of use to
ground water? To whom does the water belong? Does it belong to
the state and its people? Is it the property of the owner of the over-
lying surface, the man who first tapped the aquifer, the one who holds
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the decree of priority on the stream, the first well user, or the entire
group of owners of the overlying aquifer? Does the holder of the
number one priority on the stream have the right to shut down all
the wells on the stream or any of them? What is the legal meaning
of the word "tributary"? What damages are recoverable? What
constitutes beneficial use? Is there a right to recapture or the right
to reuse? What rights do the neighboring states have? What are the
relative rights, functions and responsibilities of the city or town, the
irrigation district, the conservancy district, the state and its agen-
cies and the federal government and it s agencies? Can ownership
of ground water itself be distinguished from the right to its use?
What theory of law or what combination of theories will result in
the optimum use of ground water for the people? Should a different
system of law be applied to ground water from that applied to
streams? Should a different theory of law be applied to replenish-
able aquifers from that applied to non-replenishable aquifers?

Problems of public administration include: the number
and type of organizations or districts to be provided for at the federal,
state and local levels; the exercise of the sovereign powers of the
state under existing provisions of the constitution and statutes, and
the division of functions and authority between the state agencies.
Should the existing state agencies continue to operate as they do now
or should they be combined into one agency? What is the function of

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