On Dec. 10, District Court Judge Larry Schwartz ruled in favor of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Groundwater Management District with regard to an appeal filed by the Cherokee, Meridian Ranch, Woodmen Hills and Paintbrush Hills metropolitan districts.The appeal disputed the ability of the UBS to establish rules on the way groundwater within the district is used and moved.In particular, the metropolitan districts disputed UBS rules, issued in 2003, limiting the extraction and movement of water from large-capacity wells for commercial and residential use within and outside of subdivisions.”I conclude that the Management District had the authority to adopt all of the challenged Rules or Amendments to Rules and that the exercise of that authority was reasonable and not an abuse of its discretion,” according to Schwartz’s ruling.”It’s a big relief for the district to finally have some clarity on whether we can enforce those rules,” said Dave Doran, president of the UBS board.Kathy Hare, who was president of the UBS board when it issued the disputed rules, said Schwartz’s decision “affirms the power the district has always had. It spells out in black and white that the UBS does indeed have control over Denver Basin wells and can say whether or not water can be exported from the basin.””The Ground Water Commission upheld our rules twice, but the Ground Water Commission hearing officer, Jody Grantham, threw the rules out twice, so there was a little bit of a power struggle at the state,” Doran said.He said Schwartz’s decision will change the way development occurs within the district, which includes Falcon and Peyton.In the past, developers moved water long distances to areas, such as Falcon, that didn’t have enough water to take care of all their development needs, leaving pieces of land with no water under them, Doran said.In addition, developers were speculating and giving homeowners wells in the Dawson, keeping the rights to the lower Denver Basin aquifers and hoping they could sell them later, he said.The UBS rules upheld by Schwartz state that water has to be used on the land in which it’s determined, which will put an end to the speculation and should result in development that is “more orderly and well-thought out,” Doran said.In view of Schwartz’s decision, Doran said he expects the state to adhere to UBS rules, restricting the issuance of new well permits in the Dawson and the alluvial aquifers, which already are over-appropriated, he added.Doran does not expect Schwartz’s decision to affect existing water agreements. “We’re just glad that the rules were upheld and that now, going forward, we have clarity,” he said.Larry Bishop, Woodmen Hills Metro district’s general manager, said his district was a party to the appeal. “We do have water that we own over in Cherokee’s area (that) they are required to pump to us,” he said.Bishop agreed with Doran that the UBS rules will not affect existing agreements. “Our agreement goes back much further than 2003,” Bishop said, adding that the decision “will greatly impact future agreements.”Kip Peterson, general manager of Cherokee Metropolitan District, said the decision was “not truly unexpected.”Peterson said the decision will have more impact on development in the UBS district than the Cherokee district.”I don’t see the decision having a tremendous impact on Cherokee, but if a developer comes in and wants to develop within the Upper Black Squirrel using their groundwater systems, it’s going to be much more difficult for them,” he said.Peterson said that Cherokee’s restriction on water use already is a bit tighter than the UBS rule of .5 acre-feet per household per year.He also said that Schwartz’s decision does not affect Cherokee’s efforts to obtain a determination of water rights for 50-year-old leases it holds in the Ellicott area. That case will be heard March 2 at the Colorado Division of Wildlife office, he said.Doran had a different view.Schwartz’s decision “will have a direct effect on the leases in Ellicott,” Doran said, adding that if Cherokee prevails; it won’t be a benefit to them other than to use [the water] on those lease grounds.
