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<br />and how groundwater management 1s handled 1n other <br />jur1sd\ct1ons. The Comrn1ttee began w\th a survey of <br />groundwater resources \n the state and an 1ntroduct10n to <br />geologic and hydrolog1c matters. A session was spent rev\ewing <br />the law of groundwater as 1t now exists. Experts from Arizona, <br />Nebraska, and California addressed the Committee. The <br />Committee also discussed the work of the groundwater task force <br />of the Metropolitan Water Roundtable and the role of <br />groundwater in the preparation of the Metropolitan Denver <br />Systemw\de Environmental Impact Statement. <br /> <br />The Committee spent several meetings identifying approaches <br />that could be followed 1n formulating new groundwater <br />legislation for the State of Colorado. It began by noting and <br />categor1z1ng the interests to be addressed \n any comprehensive <br />nontr1butary groundwater legislation. Three.work groups were <br />established to deal w\th goals and po11c1es, adm1n1strat1ve <br />procedures, and def1n1t1ons. The work groups met separately <br />several t1mes and the report of each was discussed in meet1ngs <br />of the full Committee. The Committee generally accepted a <br />definition of -nontr1butary groundwater.- <br /> <br />Subcommittees were then formed to propose drafts of two <br />different types of legislation: a draft that would ma1nta1n <br />essentially the status quo, making the minimum changes needed <br />to deal w1th the most ser10us amb'gu't'es and problems under <br />existing law; and a draft that proposed more sweep1ng changes, <br />particularly in the procedures and 1nst1tutions used to <br />allocate and administer nontr1butary groundwater. <br /> <br />Each subcommittee met several times, reporting their <br />proposals to the full Comm1ttee. The Committee met at least <br />once on each proposal and then tested them on several factual <br />scenar10s. The d1scuss1on and use of scenar10s resulted 1n <br />rev1s1ons of each of the subcomm1ttee proposals. The f1nal <br />vers10ns of both proposal~ are found in Append1ces B and C. <br /> <br />-9- <br />