Opinion ID: 1164485
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Findings concerning impairment.

Text: There are two issues concerning the findings of the State Engineer. The first issue challenges the propriety of two of the findings. The second issue is that one of the findings establishes impairment as a matter of law. Roswell's application involved 5086.5 acre-feet of water rights. All the rights were being used for irrigation purposes. 856.8 acre-feet of water was being taken at the place where the proposed new well field would be located. Roswell's application, if approved, would result in the taking of an additional 4229.7 acre-feet of water at this site. The State Engineer found that pumping of an additional 4229.7 acre-feet of water at this site would cause    an ultimate and total lowering of the artesian water level of 0.16 feet in protestant's artesian wells.    The State Engineer considered the effects upon the sources of water involved in Roswell's application. In his Finding No. 12, he considered these effects in the light of three factors. This finding states that if: (1) pumping of the entire 5086.5 acre-feet per year for irrigation purposes is stopped, (2) pumping of 4143.3 acre-feet per year for municipal purposes is begun (this is the amount that was approved) and (3) 1500 acre-feet per year of    valid existing water rights in the vicinity of the City of Roswell are permanently retired and abandoned    then the result, at all times in the future, would be accretions to each of the three sources of the water involved. Berry challenges this finding. Under the conditions of Finding No. 12, water-level declines in the artesian aquifer in the vicinity of Berry's wells will be less than the 0.16 feet stated above. In general, as water levels decline in the artesian aquifer, the salinity of the artesian water will increase. Finding No. 15, challenged by Berry, reads: The additional water-level declines in artesian wells of the protestant under the conditions set forth in finding 12 above will have a negligible effect on the chemical quality of the water pumped from protestant's wells.