In January, ìThe New Falcon Heraldî focused on defining bedrock aquifers like the Denver Basin system. Bedrock aquifers are non-tributary, which means pumping water from them will not quantitatively affect the regionís stream systems. This month, the focus is on alluvial aquifers, over-appropriation of aquifers in general and state statutes.ìAlluvial and tributary water use developed in the 1930s and 40s after the drought,î said Kevin Rein, a state engineer and the director of the Colorado Division of Water Resources. ìIt was great for those people who did not have senior priority surface water rights. They finally had water to use.îBack then, it was believed that groundwater, water from beneath the ground and surface water were not connected, Rein said. From an engineering standpoint, it is clear there is a connection between some groundwater sources and surface water, so if someone pumps water from a tributary aquifer, they are going to affect surface water streamflow, he said.ìIn 1969 and from subsequent case law, we got direction that in order to pump from a well in a tributary aquifer, you need to have a plan of augmentation,î Rein said. ìYou need a plan to calculate and acknowledge the impact to streams, and replace it with some other source of water.îAs opposed to bedrock aquifers, alluvial aquifers are almost exclusively tributary, meaning they are renewable and connected to surface water, Rein said.Dave Doran, board president of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District, said the alluvial aquifers in the region, while renewable, are over-appropriated to the point where the amount of water taken from the aquifers exceeds the amount of renewable water that is being put back into them.Terry Stokka lives in Black Forest and is a member of the Black Forest Water and Wells committee formed in March 2019 as part of the Friends of the Black Forest Preservation Plan organization. He said Black Forest used to have streams and creeks running all through it but over-appropriation has resulted in those surface water sources drying up.Over-appropriation is not only a concern in alluvial aquifers, Doran said. The UBS management district no longer allows wells to be drilled in the Dawson aquifer ñ- part of the Denver Basin aquifer system ñ- in their management district, he said.ìWe were seeing the trend of so many Dawson wells going dry,î Doran said. ìIt would behoove us to try to curtail over-appropriation. Our frustration is that it is not a race to conserve the water but it seems to be a race to see who can pump it first and the fastest.îRein said the problem might be linked more to the shape of the aquifers and locations of the wells pumping from them. If the aquifers are bowl-shaped, certain areas on the outer edges of the aquifer are shallower than those toward the middle, he said.If someoneís well is drilled to the deepest part of a particular aquifer, they may be withdrawing the designated amount each year; but the water in the aquifer could still be going down in other areas, Rein said. It is somewhat based on where a person decides to buy property, he said.ìThe state recognizes that in the case where the water is not at the same level, it is because it may depend on where the wells are,î Rein said. ìWe have not allocated more water than there is in the aquifer as a whole.îWater pumped from bedrock aquifers, while not governed by the water replacement legislation, is governed by state legislation that dictates how much water someone can withdraw from the aquifer that supplied the well water, Rein said. That legislation allows for the withdrawal of 1 percent of the total amount of water underlying oneís land per year, he said.Instituted in 1973, that legislation ñ- also known as the 100-year statute ñ- assumes that if everything is operating perfectly in a well, the water in that aquifer will be gone in 100 years, Rein said. The 100-year clock starts when a well is drilled and starts pumping water, he said.ìHowever, our understanding of aquifers is not perfect,î he said. ìWe have to consider that people start (pumping) at different times and withdraw different amounts. Also, right now people enjoy a lot of help from confined pressure in the aquifer, which makes it very economical to pump the water. When that goes away, it is not really going to be economical or cost-effective to pump that water. So, we do not think in terms of pumping; and, in 100 years, it is all gone.îThe 100-year statute must be met before a building permit is issued, meaning each developer has to show their development legally has at least 100 yearsí worth of water available for use, Rein said. However, some counties like El Paso County have put into place a 300-year supply requirement, he said.Stokka said that while the 100-year statute might make sense on paper, it does not make sense in reality. For the developers who started their 100-year clock in 1973, that time frame is almost halfway over, yet that non-renewable resource is being used at an increasingly higher rate, he said. More building permits are being issued and more ìstrawsî are dipping into the aquifer to pull out water, but they all claim to have at least 100 yearsí worth of a non-renewable resource available, he said.ìWhat happens when that resource runs out?î he said. ìIt has got to happen sometime.îDoran agreed and said the 100-year and 300-year requirements are totally pointless. No one can guarantee the water will be there in 100 years, let alone 300 years, he said. In fact, Doran said the 300-year requirement is actually worse than the 100-year requirement because it appears as though a developer is stating there is a 300-year supply of water available for use, rather than just a 100-year supply.ìI am committed to this community,î she said.Rein said he is aware of the concern with the 100-year and 300-year requirements and has been involved with issues regarding the Denver Basin aquifer system since he started with the DWR in 1998.ìWhen do we make the decision to do something different because wells are going dry?î Rein asked. ìThat is the type of discussion that needs to be had, and right now, the General Assembly has effectively acknowledged that they are going to keep allowing people to mine these aquifers because the aquifers are great resources, based on what the General Assembly determined in 1973.ìAs the counties and the developers and the citizens become more and more aware of the situation, maybe they will be inclined to go to the Legislature,î he said. ìAs a regulatory agency, it does not really fall under our purview to raise these policy concerns. Is the General Assembly going to do anything different? I do not know.îDoran said he is frustrated that groundwater resources are not adequately protected, and added, ìNo one complains until they open the tap and there is nothing there.î
