Opinion ID: 2582212
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Templeton Doctrine

Text: {11} Both parties agree that Templeton is the central legal authority for this case, and that the Herringtons must satisfy the Templeton predicates to be successful in their well application. Templeton, 65 N.M. at 68, 332 P.2d at 471, defines a specific hydrologic circumstance where junior wells intercept groundwater that previously discharged to the surface, thereby depriving a senior appropriator of their water right. To address this circumstance, this Court in Templeton fashioned an equitable remedy to allow senior surface water appropriators, impacted by junior wells, to timely reassert their priority by drilling a supplemental well. Id. Through the well, the senior surface right owner can supplement existing surface supply, if any, by drawing upon groundwater that originally fed the surface water supply. Although the New Mexico prior appropriation doctrine [3] theoretically does not allow for sharing of water shortages, the Templeton doctrine permits both the aggrieved senior surface appropriator and the junior to divert their full share of water. NMSA 1978, § 72-1-2 (1907). {12} The only two cases decided by this Court in which the applicants were granted a right to drill Templeton supplemental wells are the original Templeton case, and Langenegger v. Carlsbad Irrigation District, 82 N.M. 416, 417, 483 P.2d 297, 298 (1971). Both parties here agree that a successful supplemental well application depends on whether the Herrington facts track Templeton or Langenegger. It is therefore important to understand the specific facts of these two cases. {13} The applicants in Templeton, 65 N.M. at 61, 332 P.2d at 466, had surface water rights to the Rio Felix, a tributary to the Pecos River. The Rio Felix originated in the Sacramento Mountains and consisted of both flood flow and baseflow from the shallow aquifer, known as the Roswell Shallow Water Basin. The shallow aquifer underlying the Rio Felix was composed of up to 215 feet of topsoil, sand, gravel, shale, clay, and boulders. Id. at 62, 332 P.2d at 466. In certain areas, and during periods of flooding, water levels in the shallow aquifer would rise to meet the stream bed and discharge baseflow, or groundwater, into the Rio Felix, creating a perennial, interrupted stream. Id. {14} As groundwater pumping in the area increased, the amount of baseflow decreased. Id. To supplement their decreasing surface water, the Templetons sought a supplemental well to tap into the shallow aquifer, and thereby obtain the full amount of their appropriation. Id. at 61, 332 P.2d at 466. Based in part on principles of fairness, we approved the well, holding that: Applying the foregoing principles to this case would lead to the conclusion that the appellees were entitled to the waters of the Valley Fill that flowed into the Rio Felix at the time of their [surface] appropriation. It seems that there is nothing in the law that would prevent them from following this water through an application for a change of point of diversion, provided that it does not impair any other existing rights. In other words, their applications do not amount to a request for a new appropriation in the underground water basin, but merely a request to follow the source of their original appropriation. Id. at 68, 332 P.2d at 471 (emphasis added). {15} Langenegger, 82 N.M. at 417, 483 P.2d at 298, the second case permitting an applicant to drill a Templeton supplemental well, represents a narrow, fact-specific corollary in which we expanded the Templeton doctrine. The applicants in Langenegger were appropriators of surface water from the Pecos River. Two aquifers underlie the Pecos River: the shallow aquifer, and the deeper artesian, or pressurized, aquifer. The Pecos Red Beds, a semi-confining layer, separates the two aquifers by restricting the flow of water from one aquifer to the other. See id. at 417-18, 483 P.2d at 298-99. Surface flows consisted both of flood flow and baseflow, which had diminished substantially due to withdrawals by local wells. The applicants proposed to tap the deeper aquifer to meet their shortfall. {16} Evidence at trial established that there was upward leakage from the artesian aquifer to the shallow aquifer. This leakage ultimately fed the surface flow by virtue of the hydrologic connection, even though the connection was indirect. This Court found for the applicants. Because the artesian aquifer was an indirect source of the Pecos River at the location where the groundwater well was proposed, the requirements of Templeton were satisfied. As a result, we allowed the senior appropriator to install the well and draw from the artesian aquifer. The artesian basin was hydrologically connected to the shallow basin, and thus, to the surface. {17} Aside from the unique circumstances of Langenegger, the remaining cases emphasize the narrowness of the original Templeton requirements. See Brantley v. Carlsbad Irrigation Dist., 92 N.M. 280, 587 P.2d 427 (1978); Kelley v. Carlsbad Irrigation Dist., 76 N.M. 466, 415 P.2d 849 (1966). In Brantley and Kelley, we carefully analyzed whether groundwater actually fed the surface as baseflow, and whether the proposed Templeton well would draw from the same groundwater source of the original surface diversion. Both the New Mexico Attorney General's Office and the Interstate Stream Commission, amici curiae in this case, emphasize the importance of the Templeton baseflow requirement, and we take this opportunity to explore the baseflow requirement through the lens of Brantley and Kelley. {18} Baseflow is that portion of streamflow coming from groundwater that discharges into a stream or river. Where the groundwater table intersects with the ground surface, groundwater discharges to the surface and becomes surface water in the form of wetlands, lakes, streams, or springs. This often occurs at the lower elevations of a valley. Baseflow provides a consistent contribution of groundwater to perennial rivers, and is the primary source of stable streamflow between rainstorms. {19} A corollary to the baseflow requirement in Templeton, 65 N.M. at 61, 332 P.2d at 466, is that neighboring wells reduce surface flows by intercepting groundwater that, but for the interception, would still discharge into the surface stream. If the stream derives its flow only from flood waters, and not from groundwater, groundwater wells in the area would have no effect upon the streamflow. {20} The baseflow requirement was pivotal in Kelley and Brantley, both of which involved applications for Templeton supplemental wells that were ultimately unsuccessful. The applicant in Kelley operated a farm near the Hondo River, downstream of the Hondo Reservoir. Kelley, 76 N.M. at 470, 415 P.2d at 853. The Hondo Reservoir was part of a federal project to divert and store water from the Hondo River, and then release to downstream irrigators. However, the reservoir contained holes and most of the diverted water quickly infiltrated into the Roswell Artesian Basin. Id. at 467, 415 P.2d at 852. Mr. Kelley sought a permit to divert Rio Hondo surface flow into the abandoned reservoir, and install a well to capture the water that percolated into the ground. {21} This Court determined that Templeton did not apply because the Templeton baseflow relationship did not exist. Mr. Kelley did not seek to capture groundwater that had once fed his surface supply; instead, he sought to pump surface water that infiltrated into the Roswell Artesian Basin. The water sought to be used from the well in this instance is not underground water which, if not intercepted, would reach and become a part of a natural stream, Id. at 472, 415 P.2d at 853. The well application was denied. {22} We also determined that a Templeton supplemental well was unavailable to the applicant in Brantley. Brantley, 92 N.M. at 281, 587 P.2d at 428. The applicant in Brantley owned rights to surface water that traveled a 25-mile long canal from the point of diversion to reach his property. The applicant sought to recapture the water lost to seepage beneath the canal, through a well drilled into the valley fill or shallow aquifer. Id. As in Kelley, the applicant's water right did not originate from baseflow. There is no evidence that the ground water under Brantley's farm is a source of the surface flow of the Pecos at Avalon Dam. Id. at 282, 587 P.2d 427, 587 P.2d at 429. Instead of the groundwater discharging to the surface, the surface flows recharged the groundwater. Id. Moreover, we observed that the proposed well might draw from a hydrologically distinct aquifer, frustrating the Templeton requirement that the supplemental well draw from the same source that fed the surface. Id. Again, the well application was denied. {23} These cases articulate the narrow circumstances under which a Templeton supplemental well is permissible. A senior surface water appropriator diverts surface water that consists in part of baseflow. The senior's water supply is then depleted by junior wells in the area. The senior can follow the source of the baseflow into the local aquifer that fed the surface system, and install a well to draw from the same source used by the offending junior wells. In a Langenegger type of case, a senior can tap into a deeper, separate aquifer only if the deeper aquifer feeds the shallow aquifer, and ultimately the surface flow, because the water in the deeper aquifer is under pressure forcing it upward, as in an artesian aquifer. The senior continues using water in the manner, amount, and location originally intended. Therefore, the core requirements for a successful Templeton supplemental well include: (1) a valid surface water right; (2) surface water fed in part by groundwater (baseflow); (3) junior appropriators intercepting that groundwater by pumping; and (4) a proposed well that taps the same groundwater that was the source of the applicant's original appropriation.