Opinion ID: 1161635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Differences Between Natural Stream and Ground Water Act Regulatory Regimes

Text: In his demands to the Commission and the Management District for enforcement of the Goss Well priority, and in his second amended complaint in district court, Goss repeatedly alleged violations of his [c]onstitutionally-guaranteed water rights and alleged the responding agency had a non-discretionary duty under the Constitution and statutes of the State of Colorado to order cessation of water withdrawal by any wells which may be causing material injury to Goss' senior water rights. These contentions might be appropriate were we dealing with waters of the natural stream. Here, however, we deal with designated ground water, which is appropriated and administered differently. While we agree that Goss enjoys a vested right to withdraw designated ground water, in accordance with the terms of his permit, and has a senior priority to almost all other wells within the Designated Basin and the Management District, administration of his right stems not from the authority of the Colorado Constitution and its implementing provision, the Water Rights Determination and Administration Act (1969 Act), but rather from statutory enactments, namely the 1965 Ground Water Management Act and amendments thereto (1965 Act). The ground water appropriation, injury, and enforcement provisions of the 1965 Act differ in important respects from those of the 1969 Act, which govern the waters of the natural stream. Because these differences bear upon resolution of the issue now before us, we briefly review how the General Assembly has chosen to address the appropriation and administration of designated ground water, in contrast to surface water and tributary ground water. [3] All water within Colorado is a public resource. No person has ownership in this public water resource; rather, persons may obtain rights of use under applicable provisions of law. See Chatfield East Well Co. v. Chatfield East Property Owners Ass'n, 956 P.2d 1260, 1268 (Colo.1998). The administration of a person's water right depends upon the category of waters to which the use right attaches. See id. Colorado's authority to address the creation and administration of water rights derives from nineteenth-century congressional action. In the early days of western settlement, the United States Congress made all waters of the public domain available for disposition under the customs and laws of the States and Territories, subject to exercise of its commerce power, its power to reserve rights to unappropriated waters in priority for federal or Native American purposes, and the navigation servitude. See California v. United States, 438 U.S. 645, 657-58, 98 S.Ct. 2985, 57 L.Ed.2d 1018 (1978); United States v. New Mexico, 438 U.S. 696, 98 S.Ct. 3012, 57 L.Ed.2d 1052 (1978); United States v. City & County of Denver, 656 P.2d 1, 17 (Colo.1982). This state's chosen water law doctrine stems from the experience of its people in settling a semi-arid state. [4] Colorado's surface streams pass through only a fraction of the surface acreage of the eastern high plains of Colorado, which comprise nearly one third of the state. The need to ration use of essentially non-renewable ground water in the high plains region was a primary impetus for adoption of the 1965 Act. See Mel Griffiths & Lynnell Rubright, Colorado 224 (1983); Veronica A. Sperling & David M. Brown, Outline of Colorado Ground Water Law, 1 U. Denv. Water L.Rev. 275, 276 (1998). The Colorado Constitution, through article XVI, sections 5 and 6, provides for establishment of use rights in waters of the natural stream. These rights arise when appropriators place theretofore unappropriated surface water or tributary ground water to beneficial use. [5] Courts adjudicate these water rights, and water officials administer the court decrees pursuant to the 1969 Act. See Santa Fe Trail Ranches Property Owners Ass'n v. Simpson, 990 P.2d 46, 52 (Colo.1999). [6] In addition, there is in Colorado a category of the public water resource that is not part of the natural stream. Use of this ground water has a de minimus effect on any surface stream. See e.g., Kuiper v. Lundvall, 187 Colo. 40, 44, 529 P.2d 1328, 1331 (1974) (holding that ground water that takes more than a century to reach the stream is not a part of the surface stream as contemplated by the Colorado Constitution and is not subject to the prior appropriation provisions of the Colorado Constitution). The General Assembly has plenary authority over the allocation and administration of this category of the public water resource. See State v. Southwestern Water Conservation Dist., 671 P.2d 1294, 1316 (Colo.1983). We have deferred to the General Assembly's choice to allocate and enforce rights in ground water not part of the natural stream waters, in three subcategories: (1) designated ground water, see § 37-90-107, 10 C.R.S. (1999); (2) nontributary water outside of designated ground water basins, see § 37-90-137(4)(a), 10 C.R.S. (1999); and (3) nontributary and not-nontributary Denver Basin bedrock water of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers. See id.; Chatfield East, 956 P.2d at 1270 (Denver Basin nontributary and not-nontributary water); Bayou Land Co. v. Talley, 924 P.2d 136, 148-49 (Colo.1996) (nontributary ground water outside of designated ground water basins); North Kiowa-Bijou Management Dist. v. Ground Water Comm'n, 180 Colo. 313, 317-18, 505 P.2d 377, 379-80 (1973) (designated ground water). [7] The General Assembly's role in prescribing regimes that differ from Colorado's natural stream prior appropriation doctrine stems from its legislative prerogatives and its decision to conserve, for reasonable use, ground water that is being mined. [8] In Fundingsland v. Colorado Water Comm'n, 171 Colo. 487, 495, 468 P.2d 835, 839 (1970), we recognized that the legislature's approach is based upon the difference between renewable and non-renewable water resources: Underground water basins require management that is different from the management of surface streams and underground waters tributary to such streams. In the case of the latter waters, seasonal regulation of diversion by junior appropriators can effectively protect the interests of more senior appropriators and no long range harm can come of overappropriations since the streams are subject to seasonal recharge. The underground water dealt with by 148-18-1 (1963 C.R.S.) is not subject to the same ready replenishment enjoyed by surface streams and tributary ground water. It is possible for water to be withdrawn from the aquifer in a rate in excess of the annual recharge, creating what is called a mining condition. Unless the rate of pumping is regulated, mining must ultimately result in lowering the water balance below the level from which water may be economically withdrawn. Due to the slow rate at which underground waters flow through and into the aquifer, it may be many years before a reasonable water level may be restored to a mined aquifer. In sum, designated ground water priorities are administered under the 1965 Act, see § 37-90-103(6)(a), (7)-(9), 10 C.R.S. (1999), rather than the 1969 Act, see §§ 37-92-102(1)(a), -103(11), 10 C.R.S. (1999) (distinguishing tributary ground water from designated ground water). See also § 37-92-602(1)(a), 10 C.R.S. (1999) (exempting designated ground water from the 1969 Act). [9]