Colorado Water Engineers fail to Administer Water In Prior Appropriation.
To reaffirm Water Rights, we urge Colorado General Assembly pass this Resolution.
Whereas,
the State of Colorado Constitution guarantees the protection of life and
property, and
Whereas
water rights are property rights, and
Whereas
water is essential to sustain life, and
Whereas
the Colorado State legislature has enacted laws to protect property owners in
water rights, and
Whereas
to prevent breaches of the peace by preventing theft of property through
unlawful diversion and conversion of water rights, and
Whereas
the Governor and State Engineer are charged to administer water rights, and
Whereas
failure to do so violates the State Constitution and is a clear threat to the
lives and property of Coloradans,
Therefore,
be it resolved that the Governor and State Engineer -
Shall: Enforce State water-law as
strictly guaranteed by the Constitution in prior appropriation allowing
supplementation of senior surface water rights by use of pre-1969 supplemental
wells up to their full appropriation amounts prior to allowing junior owners to
pump and divert their water rights.
C.R.S.
37-92-102 Legislative declaration basic tenets of Colorado Water Law
(2) Recognizing
that previous and existing laws have given inadequate attention to the
development and use of underground waters of the state, that the use of
underground waters as an independent source or in conjunction with surface
waters is necessary to the present and future welfare of the people of this
state, and that the future welfare of the state depends upon a sound and
flexible integrated use of all waters of the state, it is hereby declared to be
the further policy of the state of Colorado that, in the determination of water
rights, uses, and administration of water, the following principles shall apply:
· (a) Water
rights and uses vested prior to June 7, 1969, in any person by virtue of
previous or existing laws, including an appropriation from a well, shall be
protected subject to the provisions of this article.
· (b) The
existing use of groundwater, either independently or in conjunction with
surface rights, shall be recognized to the fullest extent possible, subject to
the preservation of other existing vested rights, but, at his own point of
diversion on a natural watercourse, each diverter must establish some
reasonable means of effectuating his diversion. He is not entitled to command
the whole flow of the stream merely to facilitate his taking the fraction of
the whole flow to which he is entitled.
· (c) The
use of groundwater may be considered as an alternate or *supplemental source of
supply for surface decrees entered prior to June 7, 1969, taking into
consideration both previous usage and the necessity to protect the vested
rights of others.
· (d) No
reduction of any lawful diversion because of the operation of the priority
system shall be permitted unless such reduction would increase the amount of
water available to and required by water rights having senior priorities.”
*Supplemental -well
drilled prior to 1969 will have the same priority date as the original surface
appropriation and can be used to supplement the surface allotment quantity only
up to the adjudicated amount of the original surface appropriation. Any water
pumped above the total original surface appropriation amount will only have a
priority of the date upon which the well was drilled and put to beneficial use.
This was the intent of the State legislature as expressed in this Statute.
*First in
time, first in right. An appropriation is made when an individual physically takes
water from a stream (or underground aquifer) and places that water to some type
of beneficial use. The first person to appropriate water and apply that water
to use has the first right to use that water within a particular stream system.
This person (after receiving a court decree verifying their priority status)
then becomes the senior water right holder on the stream, and that water right
must be satisfied before any other water rights can be fulfilled.
*Priority
date: “previous, existing, pre-existing, valid, vested and senior
water rights.” and amount of surface and groundwater connected, not separate.
The
appropriation date of a water right is the earliest date on which the applicant
can demonstrate the initiation of the appropriation and applies to surface and
groundwater (conjunctive use) tributary to a surface stream. Surface water and
groundwater are connected.
*Allotment
Quantity: Assume three water-users exist on a stream system with
adjudicated water rights totaling 5 cfs (cubic feet per second). The user with
the earliest priority date has a decree for 2 cfs, the second priority has a
decree for 2 cfs, and the third priority right has a decree for 1 cfs of water.
When the stream is carrying 5 cfs of water or more, all of the rights on this
stream can be fulfilled. However, if the stream is carrying only 3 cfs of
water, its priority number 3 will not receive any water, with priority number 2
receiving only half of its 2 cfs right. Priority number 1 will receive its full
amount of 2 cfs under this scenario.
This
process of allocating water to various water users is traditionally referred to
as "Water Rights Administration," and is the responsibility of the
Division of Water Resources.
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