Chapter 8 - § 8.2 • DESIGNATED GROUND WATER

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 8.2 • DESIGNATED GROUND WATER

As indicated above, the GMA created designated ground water, the Colorado Ground Water Commission, ground water management districts for local control and management of designated ground water, and a statutory scheme to allocate and administer designated ground water.

Without a clear understanding of what designated ground water actually is, and what types are recognized, the allocation and administrative procedures outlined in the statutes and rules will be unclear and potentially misapplied. The GMA defines designated ground water as:

[g]round water which in its natural course would not be available to and required for the fulfillment of decreed surface rights, or ground water in areas not adjacent to a continuously flowing natural stream wherein ground water withdrawals have constituted the principal water usage for at least fifteen years preceding the date of the first hearing on the proposed designation of the basin, and which in both cases is within the geographic boundaries of a designated ground water basin.

"Designated ground water" shall not include any ground water within the Dawson-Arkose, Denver, Arapahoe, or Laramie-Fox Hills formation located outside the boundaries of any designated ground water basin that was in existence on January 1, 1983.¹⁰

As is evident from this definition, designated ground water is not considered "nontributary" ground water, as is commonly misunderstood.¹¹ Designated ground water is a separate and unique resource that has been "carved out" of Colorado water law by the General Assembly.¹² The statutes, rules, and regulations of the commission govern this ground water. Finally, once the commission designates a basin under its statutory authority, the ground water within that basin typically all becomes designated ground water.¹³ For example, within the front range designated basins (Lost Creek, Upper Big Sandy, Kiowa-Bijou, and Upper Black Squirrel Creek), numerous ground water aquifers exist below each designated basin boundary. While all of these different aquifers are different sources of ground water, they are all collectively referred to as designated ground water. This concept is important because within its statutory authority, the commission can define how each specific source should be allocated and administered. Further, this concept was contemplated by the General Assembly during the formation of the GMA, because the GMA only requires an analysis of the appropriation...