As used in this article 90, unless the context
otherwise requires:
(1) Alternate point of diversion well means any well drilled and used, in
addition to an original well or other diversion, for the purpose of obtaining the
present appropriation of that original well, from more than one point of diversion.
(2) Aquifer means a formation, group of formations, or part of a formation
containing sufficient saturated permeable material that could yield a sufficient
quantity of water that may be extracted and applied to a beneficial use.
(3) Artesian well means a well tapping an aquifer in which the static water
level in the well rises above where it was first encountered in the aquifer, due to
hydrostatic pressure.
(3.5) Bedrock aquifer means a designated basin bedrock aquifer.
(4) Board or board of directors means the board of directors of a ground
water management district as organized under section 37-90-124.
(5) Colorado water conservation board refers to the board created in
section 37-60-102.
(5.5) Designated basin bedrock aquifer means a designated groundwater
aquifer defined as a bedrock aquifer pursuant to rules adopted by the ground water
commission, where water is allocated on the basis of ownership of the overlying
land and the available groundwater volume beneath the overlying land.
(6) (a) Designated groundwater means that groundwater which in its
natural course would not be available to and required for the fulfillment of decreed
surface rights, or groundwater in areas not adjacent to a continuously flowing
natural stream wherein groundwater 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 groundwater basin. Designated groundwater shall not
include any groundwater within the Dawson-Arkose, Denver, Arapahoe, or Laramie-Fox Hills formation located outside the boundaries of any designated groundwater
basin that was in existence on January 1, 1983.
(b) (I) However, designated groundwater may include any groundwater in
the Crow Creek drainage area in Weld county, upstream from the confluence of
Crow Creek and Little Crow Creek, within the Laramie-Fox Hills formation located
outside such boundaries when the Laramie-Fox Hills formation is not overlaid by
the Dawson-Arkose, Denver, or Arapahoe formations.
(II) If, upon receipt by the state engineer of the findings of the Laramie-Fox
Hills study, as authorized by Senate Bill 250, 1985 legislative session, that the
upper Crow Creek drainage area in Weld county, upstream from the confluence of
Crow Creek and Little Crow Creek, within the Laramie-Fox Hills formation when the
Laramie-Fox Hills formation is not overlaid by the Dawson-Arkose, Denver, or
Arapahoe formations should not be a designated groundwater basin, this paragraph
(b) is repealed.
(7) Designated groundwater basin means that area established by the
ground water commission in accordance with section 37-90-106.
(8) Ground water commission or commission refers to the ground water
commission created and provided for in section 37-90-104 to facilitate the
functioning of this article.
(9) Ground water management district or district means any district
organized under the provisions of this article.
(10) Historical water level means the average elevation of the groundwater
level in any area before being lowered by the activities of man, as nearly as can be
determined from scientific investigation and available facts.
(10.5) Nontributary groundwater means that groundwater, excluding
designated groundwater, the withdrawal of which will not, within one hundred years
of continuous withdrawal, deplete the flow of a natural stream, including a natural
stream as defined in sections 37-82-101 (2) and 37-92-102 (1)(b), at an annual rate
greater than one-tenth of one percent of the annual rate of withdrawal. The
determination of whether groundwater is nontributary shall be based on aquifer
conditions existing at the time of permit application; except that, in recognition of
the de minimis amount of water discharging from the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe,
and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers into surface streams due to artesian pressure, when
compared with the great economic importance of the groundwater in those
aquifers, and the feasibility and requirement of full augmentation by wells located
in the tributary portions of those aquifers, it is specifically found and declared that,
in determining whether groundwater of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and
Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers is nontributary, it shall be assumed that the hydrostatic
pressure level in each such aquifer has been lowered at least to the top of that
aquifer throughout that aquifer; except that not nontributary groundwater, as
defined in subsection (10.7) of this section, in the Denver basin shall not become
nontributary groundwater as a result of the aquifer's hydrostatic pressure level
dropping below the alluvium of an adjacent stream due to Denver basin well
pumping activity. Nothing in this subsection (10.5) precludes the designation of any
aquifer or basin, or any portion of an aquifer or basin, that is otherwise eligible for
designation under the standard set forth in subsection (6) of this section relating to
groundwater in areas not adjacent to a continuously flowing natural stream wherein
groundwater withdrawals have constituted the principal water usage for at least
fifteen years preceding the date of the first hearing on the proposed designation of
a basin.
(10.7) Not nontributary groundwater means groundwater located within
those portions of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe, and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers
that are outside the boundaries of any designated groundwater basin in existence
on January 1, 1985, the withdrawal of which will, within one hundred years, deplete
the flow of a natural stream, including a natural stream as defined in sections 37-82-101 (2) and 37-92-102 (1)(b), at an annual rate of greater than one-tenth of one
percent of the annual rate of withdrawal.
(10.9) Oil and gas well means a well permitted by the energy and carbon
management commission created in section 34-60-104.3 (1) or a well authorized by
a federal or tribal entity for the primary purpose of mining, including exploration or
production, of petroleum products.
(11) Person means any individual, partnership, association, or corporation
authorized to do business in the state of Colorado, or any political subdivision or
public agency thereof, or any agency of the United States, making a beneficial use,
or taking steps, or doing work preliminary to making a beneficial use of designated
underground waters of Colorado.
(12) Private driller means any individual, corporation, partnership,
association, political subdivision, or public agency which operates as lessee or
owner its own well drilling rig and equipment and which digs, drills, redrills, cases,
recases, deepens, or excavates a well upon the property of such entity.
(12.5) Quarter-quarter means a fourth of a fourth of a section of land and is
equal to approximately forty acres.
(12.7) Replacement plan means a detailed program to increase the supply
of water available for beneficial use in a designated groundwater basin or portion
thereof for the purpose of preventing material injury to other water rights by the
development of new points of diversion, by pooling of water resources, by water
exchange projects, by providing substitute supplies of water, by the development
of new sources of water, or by any other appropriate means consistent with the
rules adopted by the commission. Replacement plan does not include the salvage
of designated groundwater by the eradication of phreatophytes, nor does it include
the use of precipitation water collected from land surfaces that have been made
impermeable, thereby increasing the runoff, but not adding to the existing supply of
water.
(13) Replacement well means a new well which replaces an existing well
and which shall be limited to the yield of the original well and shall take the date of
priority of the original well, which shall be abandoned upon completion of the new
well.
(14) Resident agriculturist means a bona fide farmer or rancher residing in
the designated groundwater basin whose major source of income is derived from
the production and sale of agricultural products.
(15) State engineer means the state engineer of Colorado or any person
deputized by him in writing to perform a duty or exercise a right granted in this
article.
(16) Subdivision means an area within a groundwater basin.
(17) Supplemental well means any well drilled and used, in addition to an
original well or other diversion, for the purpose of obtaining the quantity of the
original appropriation of the original well, which quantity can no longer be obtained
from the original well.
(18) Taxpaying elector means a person qualified to vote at general
elections in Colorado, who owns real or personal property within the district and has
paid ad valorem taxes thereon in the twenty months immediately preceding a
designated time or event, which property is subject to taxation at the time of any
election held under the provisions of this article or at any other time in reference to
which the term taxpaying elector is used. A person who is obligated to pay taxes
under a contract to purchase real property in the district shall be considered an
owner. The ownership of any property subject to the payment of a specific
ownership tax on a motor vehicle or trailer or of any other excise or property tax
other than general ad valorem property taxes shall not constitute the ownership of
property subject to taxation as provided in this article.
(19) Underground water and groundwater are used interchangeably in
this article and mean any water not visible on the surface of the ground under
natural conditions.
(20) Waste means causing, suffering, or permitting any well to discharge
water unnecessarily above or below the surface of the ground.
(21) (a) Well means any structure or device used for the purpose or with the
effect of obtaining groundwater for beneficial use from an aquifer. Well includes an
augmentation well that diverts groundwater tributary to the South Platte river and
delivers it to a surface stream, ditch, canal, reservoir, or recharge facility to replace
out-of-priority stream depletions, or to meet South Platte river compact obligations,
either directly or by recharge accretions, as part of a plan for augmentation
approved by the water judge for water division 1 or a substitute water supply plan
approved pursuant to section 37-92-308.
(b) Well does not include a naturally flowing spring or springs where the
natural spring discharge is captured or concentrated by installation of a near-surface structure or device less than ten feet in depth located at or within fifty feet
of the spring or springs' natural discharge point and the water is conveyed directly
by gravity flow or into a separate sump or storage, if the owner obtains a water
right for such structure or device as a spring pursuant to article 92 of this title.
(22) Well driller means any individual, corporation, partnership, association,
political subdivision, or public agency which digs, drills, cases, recases, deepens, or
excavates a well either by contract or for hire or for any consideration whatsoever.