Opinion ID: 2582212
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Herringtons May Be Entitled to a Supplemental Well at a Depth of 100 Feet Under the Transfer Statute

Text: {45} In addition to the analysis of the Herringtons' Templeton claim, the Court of Appeals examined whether the Herringtons qualified for a statutory transfer. See §§ 72-5-23, -24. The Court of Appeals concluded that even statutory transfers must meet the Templeton source requirements, and as a result, the Herringtons did not qualify. Herrington, 2004-NMCA-062, ¶¶ 17-20, 135 N.M. 585, 92 P.3d 31. In this appeal, both parties to this case as well as amici Stein and Draper support reversal of this point. As noted by the Herringtons, no source requirement is articulated either in the transfer or supplemental well statutes, nor in Clodfelter v. Reynolds, 68 N.M. 61, 66, 358 P.2d 626, 630 (1961). See § 72-5-24 (1985); NMSA 1978, § 72-12-24 (1959). {46} As stated by this Court in Clodfelter, the right to change the point of diversion, or place of use, of water which has been obtained as a result of an appropriation, is one of the incidents of ownership. 68 N.M. at 66, 358 P.2d at 630 (citing Lower Latham Ditch Co. v. Bijou Irrigation Co., 41 Colo. 212, 93 P. 483 (1907)). Yet the statutory right to transfer is subject to close review by the State Engineer. Section 72-5-24 directs the State Engineer to determine whether the proposed transfer will be detrimental to existing water rights, will not be contrary to the conservation of water in the State, and will not be detrimental to the public welfare of the state. See W.S. Ranch Co. v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 79 N.M. 65, 69, 439 P.2d 714, 718 (1968); Pub. Serv. Co. v. Reynolds, 68 N.M. 54, 60, 358 P.2d 621, 625 (1960). Embedded within the requirement that the transfer not result in a new appropriation is the condition that water at the move-to location be hydrologically connected to water at the move-from location. The State Engineer must therefore inspect proposed transfers closely to ensure that the applicant will draw from the same hydrologic unit. {47} Ensuring that a transfer occurs within a continuous hydrologic unit is different from applying the narrow Templeton same-source requirement. Templeton supplemental wells service the original parcel, while statutory transfers may apply to new uses for the water, over significant distances. See, e.g., Turner v. Bassett, 2005-NMSC-009, 137 N.M. 381, 111 P.3d 701 (groundwater applied to irrigation transferred to municipal applications); Montgomery v. N.M. State Eng'r, 2005-NMCA-071, 137 N.M. 659, 114 P.3d 339 (surface water applied to irrigation transferred to groundwater use two counties north of original diversion), cert. granted, 2005-NMCERT-006, 137 N.M. 767, 115 P.3d 230. Imposing Templeton same-source requirements would greatly restrict such transfers, curtailing State Engineer administrative discretion, and threatening sound water policy. {48} Holding that all surface water to groundwater transfers are bound by the Templeton same-source requirements would unduly restrict the administrative authority of the State Engineer to evaluate the facts in each specific case, and determine the propriety of a proposed supplemental well or transfer. Although surface to ground transfers require a hydrologic connection, this may be a more general determination than the Templeton baseflow source requirement. Significant discretion is afforded to the State Engineer in making this determination. See § 72-5-24; City of Albuquerque, 71 N.M. at 434, 379 P.2d at 77; Clodfelter, 68 N.M. at 61, 358 P.2d at 626. Current administrative schemes, such as the requirement that groundwater appropriators in the Middle Rio Grande acquire surface rights to offset the surface depletions caused by pumping, or future attempts by municipalities to acquire agricultural surface diversions, are dependent upon more flexibility than permitted by the restrictive Templeton source requirement. Accordingly, we specifically reject any statement in the opinion below that would impose the Templeton predicates on all statutory transfers. {49} In analyzing whether the Herringtons maintain an independent statutory right to transfer their surface right to the ground, we observe that the district court has already determined that a supplemental well pumping at a maximum rate of 24.86 acre-feet per year would not impair existing rights, and would not exceed the drawdown profiles established for the basin. The State Engineer has not appealed those conclusions. Therefore, at some depth within the aquifer feeding the Rio de Arenas stream, a supplemental well drawing at no more than 24.86 acre-feet per year is permissible under Sections 72-5-23 and 72-5-24. Yet, as with the Templeton analysis, the question remains whether at 100 feet a supplemental well will draw from a different aquifer altogether, hydrologically unrelated to the Rio de Arenas, rendering the well a new, and impermissible, appropriation. This determination is for the district court on remand. {50} Parenthetically, we note the difficulty presented by NMSA 1978, Section 72-12-1.1 (2003), which directs the State Engineer to issue permits to domestic well applicants subject to municipal ordinances. This requirement complicates the State Engineer's efforts to manage a limited water supply in a sustainable way. Furthermore, we recognize the practical difficulty of terminating continued use of existing junior domestic wells when they result in a shortfall to senior appropriators. As a result, protecting the surface rights of senior appropriators, like the Herringtons, may prove difficult when many domestic wells draw from the same basin.