Opinion ID: 2582212
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Downstream Location of the Well

Text: {37} The district court concluded that because the Herringtons propose to place their supplemental well roughly 1500 feet downstream of the original point of diversion, Templeton could not apply: [Conclusion of Law 9:] The proposed well sought by Herringtons will be located downstream from the current point of diversion at the Frazier-Bateman Ditch and, therefore, this application is not governed by the principles announced in Templeton .... The Court of Appeals affirmed this conclusion as a correct interpretation of the law, relying upon Brantley v. Carlsbad Irrigation Dist., supra , and State ex rel. Martinez v. City of Roswell, 114 N.M. 581, 588, 844 P.2d 831, 838 (Ct.App.1992) (hereinafter Roswell ), for the proposition that a Templeton supplemental well must be located upstream. {38} The Herringtons challenge this conclusion. They argue that a Templeton supplemental well need not, in all cases, be positioned upstream of a surface point of diversion. The challenge is well-taken. Specifically, the Herringtons question whether Brantley, the case cited by Roswell as the source of the upstream requirement, actually imposes such a requirement. See Herrington, 2004-NMCA-062, ¶¶ 9, 10, 135 N.M. 585, 92 P.3d 31. The Herringtons also call into question the reasoning posited by the Court of Appeals to support a universal requirement that a supplemental well can never be placed downstream of a surface diversion point. Interestingly, the State Engineer has requested that we refrain from recognizing such a universal requirement, and amici curiae Stein and Draper strongly question the propriety of the requirement. We therefore take this opportunity to examine the original language of this Court in Brantley, and the Court of Appeals' reasoning for the upstream requirement. {39} We begin by noting the documentary evidence provided by amici curiae Stein and Draper, demonstrating that Mr. Templeton's supplemental well was actually located downstream of his original point of diversion. Strangely, if we were to apply the upstream requirement, Mr. Templeton would not be entitled to a supplemental well today, under the very doctrine that bears his name. This suggests that something may be amiss. {40} In concluding that a Templeton supplemental well cannot be positioned downstream of the point of surface diversion, Roswell relied upon its reading of Brantley, in which the applicant proposed to place a well 25 miles downstream of the point of diversion (as opposed to the 1500 feet sought by the Herringtons). In Brantley, this Court found that there was no baseflow, and that Mr. Brantley sought to drill into a separate aquifer. We concluded in Brantley that the `Templeton Doctrine' does not apply since Brantley seeks to drill below his point of diversion into waters which are not a source of his surface right. Brantley, 92 N.M. at 282, 587 P.2d at 429. The location of the well was clearly an important factor, but was tied to the fact that the well drew water from a distinct aquifer. Id. We never intended to say in Brantley that the well could not be a short distance downstream if it drew from groundwater that was the same source of the surface right. Thus, the question in Brantley was not so much the particular location of the proposed well as it was whether, at that location, the proposed well would draw from the same source as the surface right. {41} The Court of Appeals' explanation in this case for the upstream requirement also warrants clarification. The Court of Appeals concluded that by definition, a downstream well would necessarily draw upon different water than the original diversion. A downstream ground water well necessarily draws on seepage and percolation that occurs after, i.e., downstream from, the surface water diversion. That seepage and percolation could not have been a source of the surface water to which the applicant has a right, and, as in Brantley and Kelley, it is more likely that the surface water is the source of the ground water at that location. Herrington, 2004-NMCA-062, ¶ 13, 135 N.M. 585, 92 P.3d 31. In so stating, the Court of Appeals suggests that all downstream wells result in a new appropriation. {42} This suggestion is overly broad. As described in Templeton, and in the district court's Findings of Facts 16, 19, and 24 in this case, water may often recharge an aquifer in the mountainous portion of the basin, and migrate downward through the aquifer to discharge as baseflow at the lower elevations of the valley. Templeton, 65 N.M. at 62, 332 P.2d at 466-67. In contrast to the suggestion by the Court of Appeals, very little rainfall and runoff across the Mimbres basin floor actually recharges the groundwater. In the Mimbres Basin, less than two percent of the rainfall recharges the ground-water. See generally NEW MEXICO WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH INSTITUTE & CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, TRANS-INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARY AQUIFERS IN SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO (2000). Furthermore, if the water table in an aquifer is lowered by wells, the same water that formerly discharged at one surface location may now discharge to the surface downstream, at a point of lower elevation. Finally, amici curiae Stein and Draper point out the confusion related to the upstream requirement, and describe the ease with which the requirement can be circumvented. [6] {43} We therefore take this opportunity to clarify Brantley. A downstream location of the proposed well may be, but is not necessarily, an indicator of whether the new well draws from groundwater that is the same source of the surface right. The determination of the source of water for a well is always case-specific. It all depends on whether an applicant's proposed point of diversion will tap into waters which are not a source of his surface right. Brantley, 92 N.M. at 282, 587 P.2d at 429. A downstream location may properly be a cause for concern, placing a burden on the applicant to demonstrate that their proposed well draws water from the same source that fed the baseflow at the original point of diversion. But the downstream location, particularly if only a short distance from the point of diversion, is not dispositive of an otherwise valid Templeton application. Therefore, any upstream well requirement is not, and cannot be, a universal requirement. {44} We must note that the Herringtons may not position the well such that seepage losses are eliminated. The Court in Roswell properly stated that an appropriator may not move a well to capture seepage lost along a conveyance canal. If it were otherwise, every irrigator with surface rights could drill supplemental wells seeking to capture their own irrigation water return flow, upon which downstream surface appropriators rely. Roswell, 114 N.M. at 586, 844 P.2d at 836. As noted by the State Engineer, the Mimbres Basin is fully appropriated, and the Herringtons' ditch seepage is therefore part of the fully appropriated system. If, on remand, the district court determines that the proposed well location will result in a greater appropriation to the Herringtons, the Herringtons' pumpage must be reduced accordingly. See City of Roswell v. Reynolds, 86 N.M. 249, 251, 522 P.2d 796, 798 (1974) (holding that permits involving changes in points of appropriation may be conditioned to reduce pumpage).