WSP06607

• File Number: 8029
• Description: Section D General Correspondence - Colorado Agencies
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 12/1/1960
• Author: Miller and Chutkow
• Title: Report on Ground Water Problems and Recommendations for Further Study and Legislative Consideration
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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The resistance to ground water legislation comes from many who
own the land overlying the ground water aquifer who contend that they
are the absolute owners of the water beneath their land, 5. some whose
wells are suffering from a declining water table whp seek, some means
to recharge ground water aquifers and others who feel that regulation
would curtail development of land and industry.

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Ground water problems can be classified in many ways. They may
be divided into physical and scientific, legal, administrative, economic,
and human or social.

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Physical problems relate to the facts as reported or discoverable
by the sciences of geology, engineering, hydrology, meteorology, soil
science and other fields of agriculture. All in some way relate to the
occurrence of ground water; its measurement in volume, depth, rate of
movement, age, source, replenishment, depletion, recharge, transmiss-
ibility, and recovery; its relation to precipitation, evaporation and infil-
tration; 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.

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The legal problems are manifold. We shall list a few. Does the
state of Colorado 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 of Colorado and its people? Is it the property of the
owner of the overlying surface, the man who first tapped the aquifer, the
one who holds 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 our neighboring states have? What are the relative rights and
functions of the city or town, the irrigation district, the conservancy dis-
trict, the State of Colorado and its agencies and the federal government
and its agencies? Can ownership of the water itself be distinguished from
the right to its use? What theory of law or what combination of theories

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