Opinion ID: 1161635
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Management District Discretion

Text: Contrary to Goss's assertion that the Management District had a non-discretionary duty to grant his requested relief, the statute provides that it  may, by summary order, prohibit or limit withdrawal of water from any well during any period that it determines that such withdrawal of water from said well would cause unreasonable injury to prior appropriators. § 37-90-111(1)(a)(emphasis added). In the context of the 1965 Act, may is not shall. Here, the 1965 Act again differs from the regime contemplated in the 1969 Act. Section 37-92-502(1) of the 1969 Act, which is applicable to administration of priorities to natural stream waters, provides that the state and division engineer  shall issue to the owners or users of water rights and to the users of waters of the state such orders as are necessary to implement the provisions of section 37-92-501. § 37-92-502(1), 10 C.R.S. (1999)(emphasis added). Section 37-92-501, 10 C.R.S. (1999), in turn, states that the engineers  shall administer, distribute, and regulate the waters of the state in accordance with the constitution of the state of Colorado, the provisions of this article and other applicable laws, and written instructions and orders of the state engineer, in conformity with such constitution and laws. (Emphasis added.) Section 37-92-301(2) directs the engineers to distribute the waters of the natural stream according to the adjudication decrees of the courts. See Santa Fe Trail Ranches, 990 P.2d at 57-58. As resources differ, so do the tools to manage them. [19] The regime established by the Ground Water Management Act provides for discretionary exercise of administrative and regulatory authority. The Ground Water Management Act empowers the Commission, or the Management District where one exists, to issue well withdrawal curtailment orders in the administration of priorities, but does not impose a non-discretionary duty to do so. See §§ 37-90-111(1), (2), -130(2),(2)(j). The General Assembly chose, in the 1965 Act, to vest well curtailment authority as a discretionary power in regard to designated ground water priorities, as compared to the more directive terms of the 1969 Act. This choice stems from the General Assembly's recognition that curtailment of surface diversions in times of short supply  so that the senior diversion may have the water flow needed beneficially for exercise of its right  is more readily ascertainable than determination of well-to-well injury in designated ground water basins. [20] In designated ground water basins, conservation and reasonable depletion of the aquifer are paired with economic development objectives, making the administration of priorities more complicated. [21] Well users are not entitled to command the aquifer through a diversion that prevents other permittees from enjoying reasonable use of the ground water resource that is being depleted. See § 37-90-111(1)(a) (providing that a prior designated ground water appropriator is not entitled to maintenance of the historic water level, or any other level below which water still can be economically extracted when the total economic pattern of the particular designated ground water basin is considered). See also City of Colo. Springs v. Bender, 148 Colo. 458, 462-63, 366 P.2d 552, 555-56 (1961). [22] Ascertaining well-to-well injury requires technical study and analysis. See id. at 464-65, 366 P.2d at 556; Fellhauer v. People, 167 Colo. 320, 341-42, 447 P.2d 986, 996-97 (1968). Whether a designated ground water well is causing unreasonable injury to another well cannot be assumed from a lessening of withdrawal yields alone, as the designated ground water aquifer is being mined and is regulated for a reasonable rate of depletion. In order to issue permits for appropriation of designated ground water, the Commission must find, in the first instance, that water is available for appropriation by a new junior well, see § 37-90-111(1)(b); [23] Berens, 200 Colo. at 175-76, 614 P.2d at 355-56, and that the new appropriation will not cause unreasonable injury or waste. See § 37-90-107(5); Thompson, 194 Colo. at 499-500, 575 P.2d at 380-81 (addressing the Commission's test for determining the availability of water for new applicants and taking into account protection of senior appropriators against unreasonable injury). The Management District's rules, its control and conservation measures, and its well spacing criteria, apply to the Commission's injury analysis in the permitting phase, as they do when the Management District addresses question of administration and enforcement. See §§ 37-90-111(3), -130(2); Rule 9.1, Designated Basin Rules, 2 C.C.R. 410-1 (1997). Thus, in the administration of priorities context, if the junior well owner demonstrates compliance with permit conditions and the applicable regulations and conservation and control measures, the junior well is entitled to a presumption of reasonable, not injurious, use of the designated ground water. The burden of going forward on the issue of unreasonable injury, see § 37-90-111(1)(a), is with the owner of the senior priority. If the senior meets this burden, the Management District abuses its discretion if, in the absence of countervailing evidence, it refuses to prohibit or limit withdrawal of water by the junior, or take other appropriate measures to protect the senior right. [24] See Danielson v. Castle Meadows, Inc., 791 P.2d 1106, 1113-14 (Colo.1990) (holding that the appropriate remedy must be effectuated once a determination is made that there has been injurious depletions to vested water rights). In the case before us, the Ground Water Judge properly concluded that: (1) alleged injury to a designated ground water priority is a matter consigned initially to agency expertise and fact finding; and (2) that the Management District had authority to hear Goss's request for issuance of an order to enforce the Goss Well priority. The Ground Water Judge recognized that Goss may renew his request for a well curtailment order to enforce his priority. If he does and the Management District fails to issue such an order, Goss may file a written request for an adjudicatory hearing with the Management District, and the District must hold the hearing. [25] Similarly, if the Management District issues a summary order against any other permitted user of designated water to enforce the Goss well priority, that user may file a written request for an adjudicatory hearing with the Management District.