Opinion ID: 2543798
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Retained Jurisdiction

Text: Because the actual effects of an augmentation plan cannot always be accurately predicted, the general assembly has provided for a period of retained jurisdiction in which the water court may reconsider possible injury to senior appropriators. Section 37-92-304(6) provides: Any decision of the water judge ... dealing with a change of water right or a plan for augmentation shall include the condition that the approval of such change or plan shall be subject to reconsideration by the water judge on the question of injury to the vested rights of others for such period after entry of such decision as is necessary or desirable to preclude or remedy such injury. Such condition setting forth the period allowed for reconsideration shall be determined by the water judge after making specific findings and conclusions including, when applicable, the historic use to which water rights involved were put, if any, and the proposed future use of the water rights involved. The water judge shall specify his determination as to such period in his decision, but the period may be extended upon further decision by the water judge that the nonoccurrence of injury shall not have been conclusively established. § 37-92-304(6); see Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 805 (holding that a water court's historic use determinations may not be reviewed under the retained jurisdiction provision); Clear Creek Water Users Alliance, 859 P.2d at 1358 (stating that water court retained jurisdiction to allow for reconsideration of injury determination where application for change of water rights did not specify a diversion point). Section 37-92-304(6) reflects the two stages of the water court's future injury analysis. Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 811. The first stage is based on predicting the future effects of an augmentation plan. Id. The second stage is based on operational experience of the augmentation plan. Id. Retained jurisdiction provides the water court and water users with the flexibility to implement programs that maximize the beneficial use of water while protecting the vested rights of senior water appropriators. See City of Florence, 793 P.2d at 157. Retained jurisdiction protects the rights of parties opposed to an augmentation plan because it allows the water court to reconsider the question of injury until the nonoccurrence of injury to the objecting party's water rights is conclusively established. Clear Creek Water Users Alliance, 859 P.2d at 1360. The water court sets the length of retained jurisdiction at the period of time it finds necessary or desirable to preclude or remedy such injury based on the evidence. § 37-92-304(6); Farmer's Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 806. The water court may later extend the period of retained jurisdiction upon further decision that the nonoccurrence of injury shall not have been conclusively established. Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 806. However, the judgment and decree remain appealable upon entry, notwithstanding conditions subjecting the decisions to reconsideration on the question of injury to the vested rights of others. § 37-92-304(6); Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 806. Because the water court has already determined non-injury at the time of entry of the decree, the water court may require a party seeking to invoke the court's retained jurisdiction to make a prima facie showing of injury from the augmentation plan's operation. Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 811; Danielson, 791 P.2d at 1115. Upon such a showing, the burden of showing non-injury shifts to the decree-holder. Farmers Res. & Irr. Co., 33 P.3d at 811-12. This injury analysis has traditionally focused on the time, amount, and location of return flows of surface water and groundwater. Id. at 807 n. 6. Once a party demonstrates injury to its water rights, the water court must require additional or modified protective conditions to prevent injury. Id. at 812. The water court may also extend the period of retained jurisdiction as long as necessary to ascertain non-injury from operation of the augmentation plan. Id. The water court abuses its discretion by refusing to require additional or modified protective conditions to prevent injury, or by refusing to extend the period of retained jurisdiction to ascertain the non-occurrence of injury, once the person seeking a change has met the initial burden of establishing injury under the statute and the decree-holder has not met the burden of demonstrating non-injury. Id. at 811. The water court may reopen the inquiry into protective conditions upon sufficient showing that other water rights holders experienced water shortages resulting from failure to implement the protective conditions or because protective conditions adopted in the judgment and decree did not sufficiently protect against injury. Id. at 810. Alternatively, the water court may extend the period of retained jurisdiction if it finds the non-occurrence of injury has not been conclusively established. Id. The focus of retained jurisdiction is not upon changed circumstances or unanticipated injury. Id. Instead, the proper focus of retained jurisdiction is the injurious effects of the operation of the augmentation plan. Id. The statute addresses the water court's role in predicting the potential injurious effect of the augmentation plan and the measures needed to prevent injury once the change takes operational effect upon the stream system. Id. Our decision in City of Thornton v. Clear Creek Water Users Alliance, 859 P.2d 1348 (Colo.1993), demonstrates the use of retained jurisdiction where some uncertainty exists about whether a proposed water decree for an augmentation plan will produce injury to water appropriators. The water court may anticipate better information about potential injury once the plan becomes operational. Under such circumstances, retained jurisdiction temporarily preserves the question of injury notwithstanding the water court's initial determination of non-injury. Without this retained jurisdiction, the water court's responsibility of ensuring the suitability of replacement water utilized in an augmentation plan could not be met, particularly where the augmentation plan's operation proves the water court's prediction of non-injury incorrect. Clear Creek Water Users Alliance used retained jurisdiction to address possible injury to water quantity, an issue that lies within the water court's traditional scope of authority. Clear Creek Water Users Alliance, 859 P.2d at 1348. Water quantity issues typically include any discrepancies in the time, amount, and location of return flows of water. Clear Creek Water Users Alliance concerned Clear Creek Water Users Alliance's (CCWUA) application for a change of a conditional water right involving five alternative storage sites. Thornton opposed the application, arguing that the city would be injured by the proposed decree. The water court approved the change despite CCWUA's failure to designate a specific storage size or location, and the corresponding uncertainty in possible injury to Thornton as a result of the change. Acknowledging the difficulty in determining any injury to Thornton or other senior appropriators in the absence of specifics regarding the storage site, the water court retained jurisdiction over the matter for five years until CCWUA could be more specific about the change. Id. at 1359. Thornton objected to both the approval of the plan and the water court's calculation of retained jurisdiction. Id. at 1360. Specifically, Thornton argued that the five-year period of retained jurisdiction should not begin to run until the full and actual operation of the water right as changed had begun. Id. The city maintained that only after the reservoirs were built and used would the water court be equipped with the operational facts necessary to examine the diversion, use and return flows, and determine whether water users like Thornton would be injured by the decree. Id. Thus, Thornton contended that the water court had erroneously granted the decree. We upheld the water court's approval of CCWUA's application for a change in the association's conditional right to store water and the water court's use of retained jurisdiction to ensure that Thornton and other senior water users were in fact uninjured by the decree once CCWUA chose a specific storage site. Id. We first noted that the law did not require an applicant to specify a diversion point. Id. We next noted that the water court had found no showing of injury to Thornton at the entry of the decree. Id. Therefore, we held that the water court appropriately approved the plan. Id. The retained jurisdiction provision began to run from the time of the decree and not from the time the change in the conditional water right became operational. Id. However, the court noted that the water court could extend the five-year period of retained jurisdiction if it found that non-injury to Thornton and other senior water appropriators had not been conclusively established once the change of conditional water right became operational. Id.