DWR_3348309

• Board or Commission: Colorado Ground Water Commission
• Document Type - Board and Commission Meetings: Meeting Document
• Document Date: 5/19/2006
• Subject: MEETING MATERIALS

Staff Activity Report, Agenda Item No. 8.

Attorney General’s Report, Agenda Item No. 9.

Please call if there are any questions about the Commission meeting.

cc: Commission Staff (w/ enclosures)
Designated Ground Water Management Districts

W:\GWC Meetings\May 2006\PacketMemoMay06.doc

Memorandum
Upcoming Commission Meeting
Page 2

FRED A. HEFLEY, CHAIRMAN, Walsh; JON B. BROWNELL, VICE-CHAIRMAN, Hooper; EUGENE A. BAUERLE, Julesburg; ANNE J. CASTLE, Denver; DENNIS W. CORYELL, Burlington;
MICHAEL GROSS, Silt; RICHARD F. HUWA, Keenesburg; F. W. (BILL) KERKSIEK, Strasburg; ERNEST L. MIKITA, Calhan

C. MAX SMITH, CHAIRMAN, Walsh; DENNIS W. CORYELL, VICE-CHAIRMAN, Burlington; GRANT H. BLEDSOE, Wray; LARRY W. CLEVER, Grand Junction;
EARNEST L. MIKITA, Calhan; RALPH G. CURTIS, Alamosa; COREY M. HUWA, Roggen; FRANK P. JAEGER, Elizabeth; ROBERT R. LOOSE, Wiggins

2
Upcoming Commission Meeting Page
May 10, 2006

QRTSTATmay06.xlsQRTSTAT.XLS
Print_Area_MI
TABLE 1
DESIGNATED BASINS BRANCH
QUARTERLY ACTIVITY REPORT
C.R.S. 37-90-

NEW
REPLACE

CHANGE
BASIN
EXEMPT
NON-EXEMPT

RECEIVED
ISSUED
N. HIGH PLAINS
KIOWA BIJOU
S. HIGH PLAINS
UPPER BLACK SQR
LOST CREEK
CAMP CREEK
UPPER BIG SANDY
TOTAL
SUMMARY OF APPLICATION ACTIVITY
APPLICATIONS
INCOMPLETE
RETURNED
DENIED

AP
NP
AU
AR
AD & AW

EXEMPT PERMITS
NON-EXEMPT PERMITS

CHANGE APPLICATIONS
UPPER CROW CREEK
FEBRUARY 1, 2006 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2006
105.00
107.00
111.00
111.00
39.00
36.00
13.00
3.00
-2.00
1.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
69.00
44.00
1.00
45.00
24.00
0.00
3.00
2.00
3.00
5.00
6.00
0.00
9.00
5.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
35.00
17.00
5.00
0.00
37.00
1.00
0.00
3.00
2.00
17.00
20.00
2.00
5.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
6.00
6.00
1.00
29.00
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.00
1.00
0.00
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
173.00
129.00
23.00
91.00
65.00
2.00
7.00
9.00
11.00
173.00
152.00
53.00
46.00
5.00
93.00
72.00
40.00
57.00
0.00
9.00
11.00
10.00
10.00
0.00

Response to motion on publication costs.docBEFORE THE GROUND WATER COMMISSION, STATE OF COLORADO

CASE NO. 05-GW-14
________________________________________________________________________

RESPONSE TO PETITIONER’S MOTION FOR ORDER REGARDING PUBLICATION COSTS
________________________________________________________________________

IN THE MATTER OF THE WATER RIGHTS OF THE PIONEER IRRIGATION DISTRICT, COLORADO BOARD, AND LAIRD DITCH, LOCATED IN THE NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS DESIGNATED GROUND WATER BASIN
________________________________________________________________________

The Ground Water Commission Staff (“Staff”), by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby submit this response to Pioneer Irrigation District’s Motion for Order Regarding Publication
Costs.

The Pioneer Irrigation District, Colorado Board, and certain owners of the Laird Ditch (Hereinafter “Pioneer”) have filed a Petition for Hearing with the Ground Water Commission. The
Petition seeks, among other things, a hearing to ascertain the accuracy of the current boundaries and descriptions associated with the Northern High Plains Designated Ground Water Basin
for the purpose of excluding water that is allegedly tributary. In addition to de-designating the ground water, the petition seeks to require wells in the Northern High Plains Designated
Ground Water Basin to curtail pumping or, in some cases, cease pumping all together. Accordingly, this Petition potentially affects the owners of over 4,300 wells located in the Basin
as well as all eight ground water management districts in the Basin.

On August 2, 2005, Staff filed a request that the Commission’s Hearing Officer require Pioneer to serve notice to the 4,300+ well owners in the Basin that will be affected if Pioneer
prevails. On September 12, 2005, the Hearing Officer denied that motion. Now, after successfully avoiding responsibility for individually notifying the well owners, who may not know
about this litigation but will certainly be affected if Pioneer prevails, Pioneer returns to this forum seeking to shift the burden of the costs of publication to the State of Colorado
(“State”).

The statutory provision governing the costs associated with publication of notices is C.R.S. § 37-90-116(1) which provides in relevant part:

The State Engineer or the Commission shall collect the following fees…..The actual expenses of publication, if any is required, which sums shall be promptly billed to the applicant and
paid prior to the approval of any permit or other application, …. Except that, when a publication is made to process final permits, … such publication expenses shall be paid by the
state engineer from the division of water resources ground water management cash fund…..
C.R.S. § 37-90-116(1)(f) (emphasis added).

Thus, the cost of publishing final permits is the only exception that requires the State to pay for publication costs. The exclusion of petitions from this exception is evidence of
legislative intent to require the Petitioners to pay for the costs of publicizing the hearing notice. Accordingly, a petition such as this falls squarely within the parameters of the
catch all phrase “other application.” C.R.S. § 37-90-116(1)(f). This catch all phrase logically includes everything that is not listed as an exception.

In addition, Pioneer correctly states that C.R.S. § 37-90-122 requires petitioners to pay the costs of publishing notice of a hearing when requesting the formation of a ground water
management district. Petitioners illogically suggest, however, that this reflects a legislative intent to shift the burden of noticing a request to change the boundaries of a designated
basin to the State. On the contrary, this statutory provision is consistent with a legislative intent to require the petitioners to pay for the publication costs for any request that
pertains to creating or changing a ground water management district or a designated basin. C.R.S. § 37-90-122.

Accordingly, Staff requests that the Hearing Officer deny Pioneer’s Motion for an Order Regarding Publication Costs.

Respectfully submitted this 21st day of March, 2006.

JOHN W. SUTHERS
Attorney General

___________________________________
Virginia Brannon, #30346
assistant Attorney General
Natural Resources and Environment Section
1525 Sherman Street, 5th Flr.
Denver, CO 80203
[phone]

StaffReportMay06.doc STATE OF COLORADO
GROUND WATER COMMISSION
Division of Water Resources
Department of Natural Resources

1313 Sherman Street, Room 818
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone [phone]
FAX [phone]
Bill Owens
Governor

Russell George
Executive Director, DNR

Hal D. Simpson, P.E.
Executive Director
May 19, 2006 Meeting

MEMORANDUM

TO: Hal D. Simpson, Executive Director - Ground Water Commission

FROM: Keith Vander Horst, Designated Basins Team

SUBJECT: Staff Activity Report for February 1, 2006 through April 30, 2006
AGENDA ITEM # 8

Various activities performed during the last quarter are briefly described below.

New and Replacement Applications

Table 1 provides a breakdown, by basin, of permitting activity for the last quarter. The following permit activities were performed:

Small capacity:

173 small-capacity well applications were received
152 small-capacity well permits were issued

Large Capacity:

93 large-capacity well or Determination of Water Right applications were received
72 large-capacity well permits or Determination of Water Rights were issued

Table 2 shows the current status of new and replacement permit applications for the large-capacity wells.

Change Applications

During the last quarter the following change application activities occurred:

9 new applications were received
11 change applications were approved

Table 3 provides the current status of the change applications.

Final Permit Activities

Below is a summary of the Final Permit Activity for the last quarter and a summary of the status of the Final Permit Project as a whole. In addition to what is shown below, 1 permit
in the Upper Crow Creek Basin and 5 permits in the Lost Creek Basin were clarified, and 1 Final Permit was issued in the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin.

Staff is currently working on issuing permits for the Southern High Plains, preparing for publication of final permits in the Upper Big Sandy Designated Basin as well as doing preliminary
work on the Kiowa-Bijou Designated Basin. Five staff members collected Statements of Beneficial Use from and meet with permit holders in the Kiowa-Bijou Designated Basin, traveling
to Hoyt on February 6 & 13, 2006 and to Kiowa on April 25, 2006.

Final Permit Activity This Quarter
Basin Requests for SBUs* Permits Clarified Permits Published Final
Permits Issued
Misc. Contacts** Southern High Plains 13 75 0 0 201 Upper Big Sandy 28 8 0 0 217
* This field tracks only the first request for a Statement of Beneficial Use (SBUs).
** This field tracks meetings with the irrigators, telephone conversations, second and third requests for SBUs and other correspondence such as corrections to a previously submitted
statement, reminders to return an amended statement or a request for a change in ownership form.

Final Permit Activity to Date Basin Total Number of Permits Total Final Permits Issued Percent Complete Upper Crow Creek
101
101
100% Northern High Plains 4376
4376
100% Lost Creek 302 292 97% Camp Creek 45 44 98% Upper Black Squirrel Creek 281 198 70% Southern High Plains 1236 186 15% Kiowa-Bijou 1075 1 0% Upper Big Sandy 134 0 0% Total 7579 5198 69%