Opinion ID: 2543527
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: THE 1960s PROCEEDINGS

Text: Golden acquired the 4.66 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water that is the subject of this dispute, in two separate transactions during the 1960s (60s proceedings). In the first of these, Golden sought to purchase 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water from James Mannon and William Vaughn. To facilitate the sale, Mannon and Vaughn petitioned the water court for a decree permitting a change in use from agricultural irrigation to municipal use and a change in point of diversion from the Lee, Stewart, and Eskins Ditch to the Church Ditch. Several parties with water rights junior to Priority 12 filed objections to this change petition. Among other things, they argued that they would be injured because changing the use of the 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water from agricultural to municipal use would result in increased consumption of the water and thus decreased return flows. A trial was held to determine whether the proposed change would indeed harm the junior appropriators. During the trial, William W. Wheeler, one of the preeminent water engineers of his day, testified on behalf of Golden. It was Wheeler who had determined that if certain terms and conditions were imposed on the transfer, 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water could be transferred to Golden without causing injury to junior appropriators. He explained that, By balancing off the consumptive use of the water . . . in Golden versus that which had been used in the irrigated lands under the ditch, we were . . . able to arrive at what we feel is an amount which could be transferred. That amount, Wheeler testified, was 2.86 c.f.s. Wheeler explained how he had computed consumptive use for the City of Golden: We based that upon the actual historic use by the City of Golden, as given to us in 1951, and again checked it for their uses in 1956, to see whether or not the 1951 conditions held. In that we took the [non]irrigation season uses as being the basic or household use. All water over and above that quantity we assumed applied to lawns. We measured acreage irrigated in Golden in 1951, that is, about half of it, as representative areas within the City, and then estimated [that] the rest of the area that would be irrigated would be comparable to that we had analyzed. At that time we found, as I remember, 98 acres irrigated by Golden. In going back and checking records for 1956, we found that the same conditions prevailed with respect to basic use and with respect to water which would be applied to the lawns. We then assumed that the total 2.86 would be taken into the system, part of which would go on lawns and part of which would go through a domestic supply or through the sanitary sewer system as waste for household use. In our later calculations it figures 138 acres could be irrigated with the 2.86 c.f.s. transfer. Now we must realize if the 2.86 is transferred, part is used for household use and part is used for irrigation. There is essentially no consumptive loss on the household use. We apply 1.5 percent consumptive use on the water which went through the houses . . . . In contrast to the household use of water, lawn irrigation is highly consumptive. Wheeler testified that depending on application rates, anywhere from 75% to 95% of the water applied to lawns is consumed. Accordingly, the number of acres of lawn that would be irrigated with Priority 12 water and the amount of Priority 12 water that would be applied to these acres were critically important to Wheeler's calculations balancing the consumptive use of Priority 12 water before and after the transfer; and therefore, Wheeler testified extensively concerning the number of acres Golden would irrigate with Priority 12 water and the amount of Priority 12 water that would be applied thereto. Wheeler's testimony makes clear that he assumed Golden would only irrigate 138 acres of land with the 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water transferred in the first proceeding. It also makes clear that this assumption was integral to his ultimate conclusion that changing 2.86 c.f.s. from agricultural to municipal use would not result in increased consumption of Priority 12 water and therefore would not injure junior appropriators. For instance, explaining how he derived the number of acres that would have to be dried up as a result of the transfer, Wheeler testified that: The irrigated land under the ditch was sketched off on aerial photos and permeameter, from which we found was a total of 575 acres of irrigated, slightly less than 75 acres of which was under Mannon and Vaughn's property. Now, in our illustrations we figured that 138 acres in Golden would be irrigated if the 2.86 were transferred. If we used only the Mannon and Vaughn land we would have 75 acres, so the difference then between the 75 and the 138 of 63 acres would be the amount of land that would have to be dried up under the Lee, Stewart and Eskins by their foregoing [sic] the use of the Mannon and Vaughn waters. Like the number of acres Wheeler assumed Golden would irrigate with Priority 12 water, the amount of Priority 12 water Wheeler assumed Golden would apply to lawn irrigation played a central role in his calculations balancing consumptive use before and after the transfer. Wheeler assumed that the 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water would be used in exactly the same way as the rest of Golden's municipal water supply. In 1956, Golden had applied 36% of its annual water supply to lawn irrigation. Thus, based on this pattern of municipal use in 1956, Wheeler testified that, assuming Golden diverted and utilized the 2.86 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, 36% of the 2.86 c.f.s. transferred would be used for lawn irrigation. However, of the water Golden used during the six-month irrigation season in 1956, 53% was applied to lawns. Again based on the assumption that Golden would use the 2.86 c.f.s. in exactly the same way it used the rest of its water supply, Wheeler testified that if Golden diverted 2.86 c.f.s. continuously from May 1st to October 31st, approximately 50% of the 2.86 c.f.s. would be used for lawn irrigation. [8] Elaborating, Wheeler described precisely how he determined the amount of Priority 12 water that would be applied to lawn irrigation during the irrigation season: Throughout the irrigation season the water we apply to lawns was applied in direct proportion to what [Golden] had used historically. In other words, one particular month you might have 60 per cent of the total water supply available used on lawns and the other 40 per cent going through the domestic system. In the early spring that might be reversed. You might have 40 per cent on the lawns and 60 per cent through the domestic system. In other words, we assume that the 2.86 would be used 100 per cent of the time if transferred. [9] Then we went through and took actual requirements per month to be equivalent to the 2.86, and that was distributed between the domestic supply, purely domestic or household supply, and the irrigation supply. Other terms and conditions Wheeler testified were necessary to protect junior appropriators and ensure that consumptive use remained the same after the transfer of the 2.86 c.f.s. included: abandoning a portion of Priority 12 water to the stream, abandonment of a portion of Priority 12 water to the Lee, Stewart, and Eskins Ditch, and season of use restrictions. Notwithstanding Wheeler's testimony, the water court denied the petition because it concluded that the petitioners' evidence failed to demonstrate that the change would not injure junior appropriators. Mannon and Vaughn appealed. In Mannon v. Farmers' High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., 145 Colo. 379, 360 P.2d 417 (1961), we held that the water court must make inquiry as to whether terms and conditions are feasible and that it be satisfied as to impossibility of imposing conditions before it is justified in entering an order of dismissal of a petition. 145 Colo. at 390, 360 P.2d at 423. Accordingly, we remanded the case to the water court to determine whether a change decree with limiting conditions would be sufficient to prevent injury to junior users as a result of the transfer. Before the court could consider this issue, however, the parties entered into a court-approved consent decree. The terms and conditions proposed by Wheeler were decreed to control Golden's use of Priority 12 water. Three years later Golden obtained another consent decree permitting it to change the point of diversion  from the Lee, Stewart, and Eskins Ditch  and the use  from agricultural to municipal  of 1.8 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water it had purchased from Mauz and Thuet. Because there was no trial, Wheeler did not give testimony on the record concerning this second change petition. However, as we noted in Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., like the 1961 decree, Wheeler prepared the engineering study that formed the basis of the terms agreed upon by the parties to the consent decree. 975 P.2d at 194. Moreover, in the second change proceeding, Wheeler applied the same knowledge regarding Golden's municipal use patterns that he relied upon in the first change proceeding. Id. The cumulative effect of the express terms of the 1961 and 1964 decrees gave Golden the right to divert up to 4.66 c.f.s. of water from May through October of each year. Id. Although we refused to read volumetric limits into these decrees in Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., we took great care to emphasize the importance of Mr. Wheeler's calculations to the interpretation of these decrees: Wheeler's estimates of the historical consumptive use of Priority 12 formed the basis of the terms of the 60s decrees. In fact, appellants admit that Wheeler's flow rate calculations were based on his attempt to balance the amount of water consumed by the previous owners of the irrigation right with the amount of water that would be consumed by Golden's municipal use of the water. Wheeler concluded that his calculations, which required a partial abandonment of flow back to the stream, were sufficient to prevent injury to junior appropriators. These calculations were ultimately incorporated into the resulting decrees. During the trial in the instant litigation, appellants' experts agreed that the purpose of the abandonment provisions in the 60s decrees was to match historical use to future use and to prevent injury as a result of expanded use. Therefore, there is no dispute as to whether Wheeler's calculations formed the basis of the terms of the 60s decrees. Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., 975 P.2d at 201. In other words, the data on which Wheeler relied to determine how Golden would use Priority 12 water justified his conclusion that 4.66 c.f.s. could be changed to municipal use without increasing consumption and injuring junior appropriators. Thus, like the terms and conditions themselves, this data serves as a limit demarcating permissible from enlarged use. [10]