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

Heading: whether golden has exceeded the number of acres of lawn it may irrigate with priority 12 water under the 60s decrees

Text: The water court's opinion that the number of acres irrigated with Priority 12 water does not address the basic questions regarding Golden's entitlement under the present decree, or the extent to which Golden has exercised its entitlement is a conclusion of law which we review de novo. See People v. Romero, 953 P.2d 550, 555 (Colo.1998) (The trial court's legal conclusion is subject to our de novo review.). Given our opinion in Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., as well as John's Flood I and John's Flood II, the water court's conclusion is erroneous. We emphasized the importance of determining the number of acres of lawn Golden is irrigating with Priority 12 water in our opinion in Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co.: With respect to the appellants' third claim for relief, namely that Golden has impermissibly enlarged its use of water under the decrees at issue by increasing the total lawn acreage under irrigation, we hold that litigation of this claim is not precluded. As the water court made no findings of fact with respect to this issue, we remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. 975 P.2d at 192 (emphasis added). In fact, with respect to appellants' third claim for relief, we explicitly held that Golden may not enlarge the use of its decreed rights by. . . using its water to irrigate lawn acreage not anticipated at the time its change in use decree was entered. [11] 975 P.2d at 203. Our precedent, especially John's Flood I, compelled this conclusion. As we have said, [T]he acreage under irrigation is the principal basis of measurement of the use of water in the adjudication of priorities, and use on increased acreage of necessity is evidence, although rebuttable, of increased use either in volume or time. John's Flood I, 116 Colo. at 587-88, 183 P.2d at 555; accord Williams, 938 P.2d at 523. This statement applies equally to consumptive use. Thus, in determining whether Golden has expanded its use of Priority 12 water, the water court should have considered whether Golden has irrigated a greater number of acres than Wheeler anticipated when he crafted the flow rate limitations in the 60s decrees. Because there is ample evidence in the record, both of the number of acres Wheeler assumed Golden would irrigate with the 4.66 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water and of the acres of lawn Golden is actually irrigating with its Priority 12 water, we do so in its place. Wheeler's testimony makes clear that he assumed that the Priority 12 water transferred in the first change proceeding would be used to irrigate 138 acres of lawn. In both Mannon and Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., we acknowledged that Wheeler's calculations balancing the historical agricultural consumptive use and future municipal consumptive use of Priority 12 water were premised on this assumption. See Farmers High Line Canal & Reservoir Co., 975 P.2d at 193, 197; Mannon, 145 Colo. at 386, 360 P.2d at 421. In Mannon, we summarized this aspect of Wheeler's methodology: With respect to the Lee Ditch, the witness computed that the removal of 2.86 c.f.s. from the ditch would result in the drying up of the Vaughn and Mannon land plus an additional 63 acres. This result was reached by determining that 2.86 c.f.s. would irrigate 138 acres; that Vaughn and Mannon irrigated 75 acres and that the difference, 63 acres, was the number which would have to be dried up. Mannon, 145 Colo. at 386, 360 P.2d at 421. Because Wheeler applied the same knowledge regarding Golden's municipal use patterns in preparing the engineering study that formed the basis of the 1964 consent decree, it follows that if 138 acres could be irrigated with the 2.86 c.f.s. transferred in the first proceeding, 87 acres, to the nearest acre, could be irrigated with the 1.8 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water transferred in the second proceeding. Thus, under the 60s decrees Golden may irrigate no more than 225 acres with the 4.66 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water that it currently owns. We now consider whether Golden has exceeded this 225-acre limit. At trial, Mr. Duane Helton, Petitioners' expert witness and consulting engineer, testified that the average lawn application rate in Golden during 1994 was 1.78 acre-feet per acre. [12] Golden did not rebut this evidence. The water court found that Golden diverted 866 acre-feet of Priority 12 water in 1994. As we will explain more fully below, 55%, or 476 acre-feet, of this water was applied to lawn irrigation. Thus, given a 1.78 acre-feet per acre application rate, Golden irrigated approximately 267 acres of lawn with Priority 12 water in 1994. [13] This is 42 acres more than the 225 acres Golden is entitled to irrigate under the 60s decrees. Accordingly, Golden has expanded its use of Priority 12 water by irrigating more acres of lawn than Wheeler anticipated in determining that 4.66 c.f.s. of Priority 12 water could be transferred to Golden without injury to junior appropriators.