WaterRights

Form Object

PROTECTING YOUR
WATER RIGHTS

We, like most of you, have many things that
require attention in the early spring, but before you
start that cleaning or gardening project, we would
like you to consider the first item on our “to do”
list. Just like we would take the time and expense
to build a fence around our annual garden with
which to keep critters out, we have decided to
build a protective fence around our water rights.
Unlike the rabbits and deer that covet our
vegetables because they are merely trying to
survive, those who would take our water rights
from us aren’t warm and fuzzy. Nothing is cute
about greedy businessmen who would encroach
upon your property rights in a vain attempt to quell
their insatiable greed.

We live in the Denver Basin and have several
bedrock aquifers under our property. A property
owner with proper consent may lay claim and draw
ground water from these aquifers. These water
rights can be recognized in the Water Court or by
the Colorado Ground Water Commission if they
are located within a designated basin. After some
simple research on the internet, we were able to
determine that we are in the Kiowa Bijou
designated ground water basin and therefore a
candidate to adjudicate our rights. The actual costs
associated with this process used to be quite
formidable for the average landowner and so it was
not often done. Recently, the prices on it have
become much more affordable and for what
protections you gain, we recommend that people
should look into it.

Before discussing the actual steps involved in
getting your rights adjudicated, it is important to
know what you stand to gain for your efforts. This
is best demonstrated by using our property as an
example. We live on sixty acres at an elevation
slightly above 7,000 ft. in a designated basin. Our
original well permit allowed us a single acre foot of
water per year out of the Upper Dawson aquifer.
We avoided the temptation to save money and
drilled as deeply as our permit allowed in case the
water table were to ever drop. Water wells can run
dry and if you have had your water rights severed .

or have not adjudicated your rights, you
might find yourself in the unenviable position
of having to purchase expensive water from
another source. How upset would you be if
you had to purchase water from underneath
your own home? We would be livid.

In 1985, the State Legislature passed
SB-5 which allows landowners to claim
their rights in the Denver Basin. Diminishing
water supplies and pressure from
developers are causing some legislators to
rethink this law. Once adjudicated, the
rights are yours and cannot be infringed
upon by developers. These people might be
looking to take your rights so that they
could then sell the groundwater to cities
outside the county, reaping huge profits in
the process. We consider this reasonable
insurance against changes in the laws that
might be pushed by greedy developers.

The rights have value which will monetarily
appreciate as the need for water increases
with future development. If claimed, these
rights will be yours and could actually be
sold or used as collateral on a loan. Most
land transactions out here are made without
consideration of the value of the rights to
the water. If you sell your property and you
have not adjudicated your rights, you might
be giving away something that may have a
tremendous value in the near future as water
is becoming the new gold of the American
West. Keep in mind, we have no intention
of selling our rights. Even if we did, there
currently is no water pipeline or pressure to
sell our water where we live,but there are
places in our county where an acre foot of
water can be worth many thousands of
dollars.

Don’t think it could happen? There are
people who just a few years ago would
have told you that living next door to a
Wal-Mart in Elbert County was something
that they wouldn’t have ever seen in their
lifetimes. Whether we like it or not, the
growth is coming and the demand for water
will only rise. Remember, if you do not
claim your rights, it is entirely possible that
someone else will.

Here is what we did: We went to the (CDWR)
Colorado Division of Water Resources web site on
the internet at http://water.state.co.us and read
about the Denver Basin. We knew our designated
basin from our well permit but there are maps
online that will show you what aquifers apply in
your case. There are also helpful people at their
downtown Denver offices located at 1313
Sherman Street if this becomes too frustrating. The
forms we needed were GWS-53 Application For
Determination of Water Right Within a Designated
Ground Water Basin Pursuant to Section
37-90-107(7) C.R.S. An application must be filed
for each of the aquifers for which you are applying
at a cost of $60.00 each. In our case, we were
applying for rights in five separate aquifers bringing
the total to $300. The questions are simple and the
forms take little time to fill out. Each application
requires a statement of ownership that has a legal
description of your property. This is something you
will find in your purchase papers. The papers need
to be turned in to the CDWR. A public ad will be
run in the county paper for which you will be billed
by the CDWR. An add of this type is around $90
and will run twice.

After this is done, a waiting period of a month
must transpire which allows citizens to come
forward with objections or questions. If no
insurmountable roadblocks are encountered during
this time period, the water court will then evaluate
and notify you regarding your claim and tell you to
what rights you are entitled. This could take as long
as six months. In our case, we might be looking at
protecting in excess of 100 acre feet of water,
considerably a greater amount than the one acre
foot we initially were granted with our well permit.

Ray Wells is one of the most respected authorities
on the creation of special districts in the Western
United States. He has forgotten more information
about water resources than many so called experts
have ever learned. His Super Slab runs through the
heart of the Denver Basin. A coincidence? We
think not. If he ever gets his project off the ground,
he will be one of the largest property owners in the
state. Do you really think he has overlooked the
millions of dollars worth of water that lie
underneath the Super Slab? Water pipes in a toll
road utility corridor sound like an idea Ray might
just consider. Maybe we all need to think about
protecting our precious water rights.