Opinion ID: 2543798
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Water Court's Role Under WRDAA

Text: The WRDAA explicitly requires the water court to consider water quality issues in the case of an augmentation plan in which water is being actively substituted into a stream for the use of other appropriators. See § 37-92-305(5); Bijou Irr. Co., 926 P.2d at 66. The substituted water must be of a quality and continuity to meet the requirements for which the water of the senior appropriator has normally been used. § 37-92-305(5). The WRDAA provides that the water court must approve an augmentation plan if it will not injuriously affect the owner of or persons entitled to use water under a vested water right or a decreed conditional water right. § 37-92-305(3). Despite the general assembly's assignment of water quality issues to the WQCC, the language of the WQCA clearly expresses a legislative intent for water quality issues to remain within the purview of the water court as set forth in the WRDAA. See § 25-8-104(1). Section 25-8-104(1) explicitly states that the water court retains authority over the question of whether material injury to water rights exists and the remedy for such injury. Id. Injury occurs under the WRDAA where the water provided by an augmentation plan is not of a quality and quanity so as to meet the requirements for which the water of the senior appropriator has normally been used. See § 37-92-305(3), (5). The WRDAA and the WQCA therefore preserve the common law standard that the introduction of pollutants into a water supply constitutes injury to senior appropriators if the water is no longer suitable for the senior appropriator's normal use because of the substitute supply. See § 25-8-104(1). This court has recognized that Colorado's division of responsibility over water matters between the water courts and the WQCA limits the ability of both the water court and water quality control agencies to address certain water quality control issues. Bijou Irr. Co., 926 P.2d at 66. Nevertheless, the WQCA and the WRDAA guarantee the right of senior appropriators to a substitute water supply suitable for their normal use of the water prior to the implementation of the augmentation plan, despite the role of the WQCC over general water quality issues. § 25-8-104(1); XX-XX-XXX(5).