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<br />B. Development of Colorado Groundwater Law <br /> <br />statutes dea11ng w1th groundwater 1n Colorado are of recent <br />v1ntage. An early general enactment only condemned waste from <br />artes1an wells and requ1red collectlon of data by well <br />dr11lers. A s1mple law regulat1ng well construct10n was passed <br />1n 1953. The 1953 law was replaced by a 1957 enactment 1n <br />wh1ch the leg1slature dealt for the f1rst t1me w1th protect1ng <br />groundwater supp11es. The law requ1red a perm1t from the State <br />Eng1neer for new or expanded wells. <br /> <br />Before 1965, the leg1slature d1d not d1st1ngu1sh between <br />tr1butary and nontr1butary water. The courts, however, <br />cons1stently held that all waters w1th1n a natural stream were <br />subject to the law of pr10r appropr1at1on under the Colorado <br />Const1tut1on. Those waters 1nelude all water that 1s tr1butary <br />to a natural stream and groundwater sOurces are presumed to be <br />tr1butary unless shown otherw1se. E.g., Safranek v Town of <br />L1mon. 123 Colo. 330, 228 P. 2d 975 (1951). <br /> <br />Colorado's early jud1c1al recogn1t1on that much groundwater <br />1s connected w1th a stream and should be adm1n1stered 1n the <br />same manner as surface water recogn1zed hydrolog1c rea11ty. <br />The law of many states st111 does not d1st1ngu1sh between <br />groundwater that 1s connected w1th, and has an effect upon, <br />surface water and groundwater that 1s essent1ally 1s01ated from <br />a natural stream. Those states manage the1r tr1butary <br />groundwater resources accord1ng to laws d1fferent from those <br />app11cable to surface water, creat1ng anomalous and somet1mes <br />1nequ1table and 1mpract1cal s1tuat10ns. In enact1ng the 1969 <br />Water R1ghts Determ1nat1on and Adm1n1strat10n Act, the <br />leg1slature made exp11c1t what the courts had ear11er decided: <br />that tr1butary groundwater was subject to the law of pr10r <br />appropr1at10n. <br /> <br />-4- <br />