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<br />Page Eleven <br /> <br />there are multiple land ownerships. In some municipalities or districts, a <br /> <br />local ordinance committing water service and prohibiting individual wells has <br /> <br />been used to achieve compliance. <br /> <br />A legal possibility exists that groundwater basins ~ight be -designated- as <br /> <br />special management regions and under current legislation, the land ownership <br /> <br />or consent requirement may be eliminated. Control would be placed under the <br /> <br />Ground Water Commission, which was designed primarily for agricultural users <br /> <br />and may not be appropriate for the management of the Denver Basin bedrock <br /> <br />aquifers. A well permit from the State Engineer is required for most of the <br /> <br />Denver Basin. However, a portion along the east and south boundary has been <br /> <br />designated and is under the jurisdiction of the Ground Water Commission. <br /> <br />New legislation clarifying consent requirements may be a possibility, although <br /> <br />the constitutional underpinnings of the nontr ibutary ownership doctrine is <br /> <br />presently being litigated in the Colorado Supreme Court. <br /> <br />Several streams flow across the edge of aquifers in the Denver Basin. Some of <br /> <br />these streams are now fed by bedrock groundwater under artesian pressure. As <br /> <br />this pressure is reduced by pumping in the basin, surface water rights may be <br /> <br />damaged unless, as is presently required under the law, adequate augmentation <br /> <br />plans are implemented. <br />