Opinion ID: 2621332
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Management Act

Text: In 1965, the General Assembly enacted the Management Act to govern the use, appropriation, and administration of designated ground water. § 37-90-102, C.R.S. (2006). [4] The Management Act created the Commission, an administrative body charged with designating ground water basins, issuing well permits within designated basins, and administering rights to designated ground water. §§ 37-90-104 to -111, C.R.S. (2006). The Management Act acknowledges the doctrine of prior appropriation, but specifically calls for a modified prior appropriation system to apply to designated ground water. § 37-90-102(1). Under the modified system, the Commission is charged with the task of permitting the full economic development of designated ground water resources, protecting prior appropriators of designated ground water, and allowing for reasonable depletion of the aquifer. Id.; Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Goss, 993 P.2d 1177, 1183-84 (Colo.2000). Although the rights of prior appropriators are to be protected under the Management Act, that protection does not extend to the maintenance of historic water levels. § 37-90-102(1). Consistent with this intent, the General Assembly made the Commission's powers to curtail the pumping of junior wells for the benefit of senior appropriators discretionary. Goss, 993 P.2d at 1188.