DISTRICT COURT, WATER DIVISION NO. 1, STATE OF COLORADO

 

Case No. 2001 CW                                                                                                                                                                       

 

APPLICATION FOR UNDERGROUND WATER RIGHT

                                                                                                                                                           

 

CONCERNING THE APPLICATION OF: CHARLES H. BUCKNAM AND JERRI L. HILL FOR WATER RIGHTS IN THE ARAPAHOE AND LARAMIE-FOX HILLS AQUIFERS, IN DOUGLAS COUNTY, COLORADO

                                                                                                                                                           

 

1.                  Name, mailing address, telephone number(s) of applicants:

 

Charles H. Bucknam and Jerri L. Hill

12460 North Third Street

Parker, Colorado 80134

 

(303) 805-1690 (home)

(303) 708-4430 (business)

 

2.                  Name of well and permit, registration or denial number. 

 

Well permit applications for the wells to be constructed pursuant to this application and subsequent decree will be applied for at such time as Applicants are prepared to construct

such wells and pursuant to the consent of the affected Applicants and in accordance with the terms of the decree to be entered in this matter.  Applicants may wish to exercise these  rights by participation in well field operations; such as those described in the Building and Restrictive Protective Covenants of Grandview Estates which state: “There will be a charge of approximately $350.00 to $400.00 at such time that the water is made available to each building site.”  Such well fields are described in the Statewide Nontributary Groundwater Rules 2 CCR 402-7 Rule 14 and Applicants request the right to participate in well field operations for well fields on parcels of land contiguous with the Applicants’ parcel or have cylinders of appropriation which overlap Applicants’ parcel as described in Rule 11B, with the consent of the well field operator.

 

3.                  Legal description of well (include distance and bearing from established government section corner or quarter corner; or distances from section lines and include 1/41/4, section number, township, range and meridian, include map) ALSO in urban areas, include street address, lot, block and subdivision.

 

Applicant’s parcel location is in NE 1/4 SW 1/4 Section 7 Twp 6S Range 66 W 6th P.M., 2 acre parcel,  Lot 4, Block 16, Subdivision: Grandview Estates; 12460 North Third Street, Parker, Colorado 80134.

 

Applicants request the right to construct wells as described in Section 37-90-137(4)  C. R. S., anywhere on the Subject Property to recover the entire allowable annual amounts from each aquifer as claimed herein or as determined by the Court pursuant to its retained jurisdiction.  Applicants will not place a well within 600 feet of  another well within the Arapahoe or Laramie-Fox Hill aquifers, unless it is an exempt well, producing 15 gallons per minute or less.

 

4.                   

A. Source:

 

Arapahoe and Laramie-Fox Hills Aquifers.  The ground water in the Arapahoe and Laramie‑Fox Hills aquifers at this location is classified as nontributary ground water as defined at Section 37‑90‑103 (10.5), C.R.S. Applicants will comply with the requirement to relinquish two percent (2%) of all such nontributary ground water withdrawn to the stream system. Otherwise, such water may be fully consumed to extinction for all beneficial uses.

 

B. Depths:

 

Approximately 1200’ and 2300’, respectively, in accordance with the Denver Basin Rules, 2 CCR 402-6 Rule 4.

 

5.                  A. Date of Appropriation:

 

            July 1, 1956.

 

B. How appropriation was initiated:

 

Building and Restrictive Covenants of Grandview Estates established water service, Book 117 page 419, Douglas County Clerk.

 

Applicants request that these nontributary groundwater rights not be administered in accordance with priority of appropriation in accordance with Section 37-92-306 (11) C. R. S.  The determination of the water rights need not include a date of initiation of the withdrawal project and the rights to use the groundwater from the Section 37-90-137 (4) wells pursuant to all such determinations shall be deemed to be vested property rights.

 

C. Date water applied to beneficial use:

 

April 25, 1996, exempt well in the Denver aquifer, Well Permit Number 190394, Div. 1, CNTY. 18, WD 8 DES. BASIN WD.

.

 

6.                  Amount claimed:

 

A. Applicants seek a decree for all ground water determined to be available from each aquifer named above underlying the specified 2 acres of land, more or less, described herein, based upon a statutory aquifer life of 100 years. Applicants are the owners

of such overlying land area as described herein and may adjudicate and use the ground water rights claimed herein and such rights are vested property rights of the Applicants.

 

B. The withdrawal in the average annual amounts determined to be available from each named aquifer can be made pursuant to Section 37‑90‑137(4), C.R.S., without causing material injury to the vested rights of others.

 

7.                  Estimated Amounts and Rates of Withdrawal:

 

A. The estimated average annual amounts of withdrawal available from each aquifer, as indicated below, are based upon interpretations of  information contained in the Denver Basin Rules, 2 C.C.R. 402‑6:

 

 

Aquifer                         Acres               Sat. Sand    Specific            Ave. Ann Amount      

Thickness             Yield(%)             (Acre‑Feet)

           

Arapahoe                    2                      262’                 17                    0.9                              

Laramie‑Fox Hills             2                      191’                 15                    0.6

 

B. The final average annual amounts available from each aquifer will depend upon the actual hydrogeology and the legal entitlement of the Applicants to all ground water in the subject aquifers underlying their described property. Adjustments may be required to

account for prior appropriations. 

 

Applicants have identified California Arapahoe Well No. 1 (CA-1, permit 17691-F, decree W-7609), recognized by the State Engineer as a Section 37-90-137 (5) well, with a cylinder of appropriation of approximately 3070’ in the Arapahoe aquifer, overlapping about 1.4 acres of the Subject Property.  This prior appropriation may reduce the appropriable water in the Arapahoe aquifer to approximately 0.3 acre-feet annually, since the appropriation of that well is attributed solely to the Arapahoe aquifer by the State Engineer.  Attributing the appropriation solely to the Arapahoe aquifer prevents material injury to right holders in the Denver aquifer, according to the State Engineer’s determination in case 99CW127, even though it is a dual aquifer well, producing unspecified amounts of water from both the Arapahoe and Denver aquifers. 

 

 

C. The pumping rates for each well are to be specified on the well permit. Applicants request the banking of water rights as of the date of the decree sought, in accordance with 2 CCR 402.7 Rule 8 A.  The allowed average annual amount of withdrawal shall be based on a aquifer life of 100 years in accordance with Section 37-90-137 (4)(b)(I), C. R. S.  The allowed average annual amount of withdrawal for all of the wells in the overlying land shall not exceed one percent of the total amount of water, exclusive of artificial recharge, recoverable from a specific aquifer beneath the overlying land.  However, the allowed annual amount of withdrawal may exceed the allowed average annual amount of withdrawal as long as the total volume of water withdrawn from the well or wells does not exceed the product of the number of years since the date of  the decree sought, times the allowed average annual amount of withdrawal. 

 

8.                  Well Fields:

 

Applicants request that this Court determine that the Applicants have the right to withdraw all of the legally available ground water in the subject aquifers underlying the land described herein through any well(s) initially permitted in such aquifer and any additional well(s) which may become part of the Applicants' well field. Applicants request that the initial well(s) permitted in each aquifer, along with any additional well(s) completed into the same aquifer permitted on or after July 6, 1973, shall be treated as a well field.

 

9.                  Additional Wells:

 

As additional wells are planned, well permit applications will be filed in accordance with Section 37‑90‑137(10), C.R.S.

 

10.              Proposed Uses:

 

Applicants request the right to use all ground water subject to this application. Such water is to be used, reused, successively used and, after use, leased, sold or otherwise disposed of for the following beneficial purposes: domestic, agricultural, irrigation, stock  watering, recreational, fish and wildlife, fire protection, and any other beneficial purposes, to be used on or off the land described herein. Such water will be produced for  immediate application to said uses, for storage and subsequent application to said uses, for exchange purposes, for replacement of depletions resulting from the use of water from other sources, or for augmentation purposes.

 

11.              Jurisdiction:

 

The Water Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this application pursuant to Sections 37‑92‑302(2) and 37‑90‑137(6), C.R.S.

 

 

 

12.              Name and Address of owners of land on which the well is located:

 

Charles H. Bucknam and Jerri L. Hill

12460 North Third Street

Parker, Colorado 80134

 

13.              Remarks:

 

A. Applicants claim the right to withdraw more than the average annual amount estimated in paragraph 7B above pursuant to Rule 8A of the Statewide Rules, 2 C.C.R. 402‑7, and the right to revise the above estimate of the average annual amounts available for withdrawal in each aquifer upward or downward, based on better or revised data, without the necessity of amending this application or republishing same.

 

B. Applicants request hereby

 

(1)  a complete quantification and adjudication of the ground water rights in each aquifer named herein to which Applicants are entitled to develop and use; and

 

(2) a confirmation of the right to use, reuse, successively use, and otherwise dispose of all such nontributary ground water.

 

 

WHEREFORE, Applicants Charles H. Bucknam and Jerri L. Hill, request this Court enter a decree:

 

(1)   Granting the application herein and awarding the ground water rights claimed herein as final water rights, except as to those issues for which jurisdiction of the Court will be specifically retained, so that the State Engineer may issue well permits for such well(s) as Applicants request under this decree, subject to the limitations described in such ruling and decree.

 

(2) Finding that Applicants have complied with Sections 37‑90‑137(4), C.R.S., and water is legally available for withdrawal from the nontributary Arapahoe and Laramie‑Fox Hills aquifers through wells to be located on the Subject Property or through well fields located on contiguous parcels or within cylinders of appropriation overlapping the Subject Property with consent of such well field operators.

 

(3) Finding that jurisdiction is to be retained with respect to the average annual amounts

specified herein to provide for the adjustment of such amounts to conform to actual local aquifer characteristics from adequate information obtained from wells or test holes drilled on or near Applicants' property, pursuant to Section 37‑92‑305(11), C.R.S.

 

(4) Finding that Applicants or their successors may construct wells into each aquifer anywhere on the subject property without the necessity of filing any further amendments to this application, republishing this application, or reopening the decree to be awarded, except  Applicants shall not place a well within 600 feet of  another well in the Arapahoe or Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers, unless it is an exempt well producing 15 gallons per minute or less.

 

(5) Finding that vested or conditionally decreed water rights of others will not be materially injured by the withdrawals proposed herein and that, in accordance with Section 37‑92‑305(11), C.R.S., no findings of reasonable diligence are required to maintain the water rights applied for herein.

 

FURTHER, Applicants request this Court grant such other relief as the Court deems proper in the premises.

 

 

 

                                                                           

Signature of Applicant (or Attorney)

 

                                                                            

Signature of Applicant (or Attorney)

 

Charles H. Bucknam and Jerri L. Hill

12460 North Third Street

Parker, Colorado 80134

                                                                           

Address of Applicant (or Attorney)

(303) 805‑1690

Telephone No.                                                    

 

 

Attorney Registration No.           


                     

 

STATE OF COLORADO

COUNTY OF DOUGLAS }ss.

 

I,                                                                                , state under oath that I have read this application and verify its content.

 

 

 

                                                                           

Signature of Applicant

 

                                                                           

Signature of Applicant

 

 

Subscribed under oath to me on                                                 ,

date

 

My commission expires:                                                 ,

date

 

 

                                                                            

Notary Public