Abandonment
Loss of whole or part of a water right by intent to permanently discontinue
use. Period of non-use for ten years raises rebuttable presumption of
abandonment. A conditional water right is conclusively presumed to be abandoned,
if an application for finding of reasonable diligence is not made within six
years of the entry of the conditional decree or the most recent diligence
decree. The State Engineer prepares a periodic abandonment list. Water rights
are declared abandoned through a water court proceeding.
Acre-Foot
Volumetric measurement of water used for quantifying reservoir storage capacity
and historic consumptive use. This is the amount of water that will cover an
acre of land at a depth of one foot -- 325,851 gallons of water.
Adjudication
The process for obtaining a water court decree for a conditional water right, a
finding of reasonable diligence, an absolute water right, an exchange, an
augmentation plan, a change of water right, or a right to withdraw nontributary
water or Denver Basin groundwater that is outside of a designated groundwater
basin.
Ambient Water Quality
The existing quality of water in the environment, such as in a stream, lake or
reservoir.
Ammonia
A nitrogen compound present in domestic wastewater. Even low levels of ammonia
can be toxic to many forms of aquatic life.
Antidegradation
Provisions intended to protect the existing quality of a water body.
Appropriation
Placement of a specified portion of the waters of the state to a beneficial use
pursuant to the procedures prescribed by law. Speculation is prohibited. The
appropriator must have its own use for the water or have a contract to serve
customers that the water will benefit. Only previously unappropriated surface or
tributary groundwater water can be appropriated. The appropriator must have a
plan to divert, store or otherwise capture, possess and control the water for
beneficial use.
Aquifer
A subsurface water-bearing geological structure capable of storing and yielding
water to streams, springs and wells.
Augmentation
Replacing the quantity of water depleted from the stream system caused by an
out-of-priority diversion. When adjudicated and operated to replace depletions
to the stream system, the out-of-priority diversion may continue even though a
call has been placed on the stream by senior decreed rights.
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Beneficial Use
Beneficial use is the basis, measure and limit of a water right. Colorado law
broadly defines beneficial use of water as a lawful appropriation that uses
reasonably efficient practices to put that water to use without waste.
Best Management Practices (BMP)
Structural and/or management techniques determined to be the most effective
practices for controlling non-point sources of pollution.
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)
A measure of the oxygen-consuming material present in wastewater. Higher BOD
results in a greater depletion of oxygen in a water body, which can be harmful
to aquatic life.
Biosolids
The semi-solid material, sometimes referred to as "sludge," removed from
domestic wastewater as the result of treatment by a municipal wastewater
treatment facility.
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Call
Demand for administration of water rights. In times of water shortage, the owner
of a decreed water right will make a "call" for water. The call results in
shutdown orders against undecreed water uses and decreed junior water rights as
necessary to fill the beneficial use need of the decreed senior calling right.
Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS)
The annual compilation of Colorado statutes and court rules published by the
Colorado General Assembly. Also called "the red books."
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)
An operation where livestock (including cattle, swine, chickens, turkeys, horses
or sheep) are confined for 45 days or more per year in an area with no grass or
other vegetation during the normal growing season, and which exceeds certain
size thresholds or is determined to be contributing pollutants to state waters.
Conservation Easement for Water Rights
Legal provision under 2003 statute allowing owners of water rights to covenant
for keeping the water in use for open space, wetlands, recreation, ecological
diversity, or farming.
Consumptive Use
Water use that permanently withdraws water from its source; water that is no
longer available because it has evaporated, been transpired by plants,
incorporated into products or crops, consumed by people or livestock, or
otherwise removed from the immediate water environment.
Cubic Feet Per Second (cfs)
Measurement of flow rate of water in running stream or taken as direct diversion
from the stream. Water flowing at 1 cfs will deliver 448.8 gallons per minute,
or 648,000 gallons per day.
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Denver Basin Groundwater
Groundwater of the Dawson, Denver, Arapahoe and Laramie-Fox Hills aquifers
underlying the Front Range area from Colorado Springs to Greeley. This water is
allocated to the overlying landowner by statute, administered by rules of the
State Engineer, allowing pumping at a rate of one percent per year, assuming a
hundred-year life of the aquifer and requiring some of the pumped water to be
put back into the stream system.
Designated Groundwater
Groundwater areas not adjacent to a continuously flowing natural stream, where
groundwater has been the principal water supply for at least fifteen years
preceding the designation of the groundwater basin. Eight designated groundwater
basins exist on Colorado's eastern high plains. Use of designated groundwater
requires a permit from the Colorado Groundwater Commission.
Developed or Imported Water
Water brought into a stream system from another, unconnected source, for example
transmountain diversion water or nontributary well water. This type of water can
be reused and successively used to extinction, and is often used in augmentation
or exchange plans. In contrast, native basin water is subject to one use, and
the return flow belongs to the stream system to fill other appropriations,
unless a decree was obtained for the right to reuse and successively use return
flows.
Diisopropyl Methylphosphonate (DIMP)
A liquid chemical generated as a byproduct of the manufacture and detoxification
of the nerve agent Sarin, which was produced at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal by
the US Army in the 1950s.
Diligence
Reasonable progress towards making a conditional water right absolute by putting
unappropriated water to a beneficial use. Must be proved in a water court
proceeding through an application initiated every six years after entry of the
conditional decree or most recent diligence decree. Acts demonstrating diligence
include engineering, permitting, financing, and construction of water facilities
needed to complete water diversion and delivery to the place of use.
Diversion / Divert
Removing water from its natural course or location, or controlling water in its
natural course or location, by means of a water structure such as a ditch,
pipeline, pump, reservoir, or well. The Colorado Water Conservation Board may
appropriate instream flows without diversion, and local governmental agencies
may make recreational in-channel diversions, under specified statutory
procedures.
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Effluent Limits
Limitations on the concentration and/or mass of specific pollutants that a
facility is allowed to discharge.
Eutrophication
Enrichment of an aquatic system with nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus
compounds) which increases growth of algae and aquatic weeds. Eutrophication is
a natural process, but can be accelerated by human activities that increase
nutrient loadings to a water body.
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Futile Call
Determination made by the State or Division Engineer to lift a shutdown order if
cessation of diversions by junior decreed water rights will not result in making
water available to the senior calling right.
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Giardia
A microscopic organism that can be present in natural streams -- even clear,
cold, free-running mountain streams whose water looks, tastes and smells good.
Drinking untreated water with giardia can cause people to become ill several
days later, with symptoms that include nausea, diarrhea, cramps and loss of
appetite.
Groundwater
Water located beneath the surface of the earth, typically withdrawn for use
through wells.
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Headwaters
The small streams, generally in the mountains, that are the sources of a river;
the first and smallest tributaries of a river.
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Injury
The action of another that causes, or may cause, the holders of decreed water
rights to suffer loss of water at the time, place and amount they would be
entitled to use under their water rights if the action had not occurred. Injury
is a significant issue in any water court proceeding, and in determinations of
the State and Division Engineers.
Interruptible Water Leasing
Authorization by 2003 statute to allow farmers to lease water to cities during
drought emergencies.
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Nonpoint Source
A diffuse source of water pollution, such as general runoff over the land
surface; a pollution source that does not meet the definition of a "point
source."
Nontributary Groundwater
Groundwater outside of the boundaries of any designated groundwater basin, the
withdrawal of which will not, within one hundred years, deplete the flow of a
natural stream at an annual rate greater than one-tenth of one percent of the
annual rate of withdrawal.
Not Nontributary Groundwater
Denver Basin groundwater, the withdrawal of which will deplete the flow of a
natural stream at an annual rate greater than one-tenth of one percent of the
annual rate of withdrawal.
Nutrients
Primary elements necessary for plant growth. The principal nutrients of concern
for water quality protection are nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. In surface
waters, elevated levels of nutrients can cause algae blooms, oxygen depletion,
and adverse impacts to aquatic life.
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Organic Chemicals
A class of mostly man-made, carbon-containing chemical compounds, such as
pesticides and industrial solvents.
Outstanding Waters
Very high quality surface water that constitutes an outstanding natural resource
and which is not allowed to be degraded.
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Pathogens
Microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, which can produce disease
in humans if ingested.
Point Source
A pipe, channel, conduit or other discrete conveyance from which pollutants are
discharged.
Pollutant
Any waste or other contaminant that adversely affects water quality.
Pollution
The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological
and/or radiological integrity of water.
Pretreatment
The treatment of non-domestic, industrial wastewater before it is discharged
into a municipal sewer system.
Priority
The ranking of a water right vis-a-vis all other water rights drawing on the
stream system. Priority is determined by the year in which the application for
the water right was filed. The date the appropriation was initiated determines
the relative priority of water rights for which applications were filed in the
same year. Priority is the most valuable aspect of a water right because
priorities determine who may divert and use water in time of short water supply.
Public Trust Doctrine
A doctrine of state ownership of stream and lake beds that has been applied,
most notably in California, to cut back on historic diversions to sustain fish
and wildlife habitat and recreation. Has not been recognized in Colorado,
although the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that the Colorado Water
Conservation Board has a fiduciary duty to the people of Colorado to enforce the
instream flow water rights it obtains.
Public Water System
A system with at least 15 service connections, or which provides drinking water
to an average of at least 25 people daily for at least 60 days out of the year.
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Return Flow
Water that returns to streams and rivers after it has been applied to beneficial
use. It may return as a surface flow, or as an inflow of tributary groundwater.
Reviewable Waters
Colorado surface waters that have not been designated "outstanding waters" or
"use-protected," and which are subject to an anti-degradation review before new
or increased contamination is allowed.
Riparian
Referring to land or habitat immediately adjacent to the stream channel.
Riparian Water Law
A legal system that permits water use only by those who own land along the banks
of a stream or lake. The right is for reasonable use and is correlative with the
right of every other property owner to prohibit unreasonable use that diminishes
the instream quantity or quality of water. Colorado law does not recognize
riparian rights.
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Salinity
A measure of the total amount of dissolved salts in water. High levels of
salinity can significantly reduce crop yields and can cause more frequent
replacement of industrial or water treatment facilities' plumbing and other
equipment.
Selenium
A trace element that occurs naturally and can be present at high concentrations
in certain geologic materials. In surface waters, elevated levels of selenium
have been shown to cause reproductive failure and deformities in fish and
aquatic birds.
Statute
A law enacted by a legislative body such as the US Congress or the Colorado
General Assembly.
Stormwater Runoff
Rainfall or snowmelt that runs off over the land surface, potentially carrying
pollutants to streams, lakes or reservoirs.
Substitute Supply Plan
A State Engineer-approved temporary plan of replacement supply allowing an
out-of-priority diversion while a plan for augmentation is proceeding through
the water court. The State Engineer may also approve substitute supply plans for
water exchanges, water uses that will not exceed five years, and limited
emergency situations affecting public health or safety.
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Table Value Standards
Numerical water quality standards based on general scientific research, rather
than on site-specific conditions.
Temporary Modification
A temporary relaxation of numerical water quality standards, to allow time for
actions to improve water quality and achieve a long-term standard.
Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
A calculation of the total amount of pollutants that can be added to a water
body from all sources and still meet water quality standards.
Tributary Groundwater
All subsurface water hydraulically connected to a surface stream, the pumping of
which would have a measurable effect on the surface stream within one hundred
years.
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Use Attainability Analysis (UAA)
A structured, scientific assessment of factors that may affect the ability to
achieve a particular use of water. The analysis may consider physical, chemical,
biological and economic factors that affect whether a use can be attained.
Use Classification
A formal designation of the uses (eg, aquatic life, recreation, water supply and
agriculture) for which the water quality in a stream, lake or reservoir will be
protected.
Use-Protected Waters
Water bodies that are not subject to antidegradation review, but rather are
protected only for their classified uses.
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Water Bank
A program operating under rules of the State Engineer in each of Colorado's
seven water divisions, to facilitate the lease, exchange or loan of legally
stored water as an alternative to sale of water rights, while protecting against
injury to other water rights.
Water Quality Standards
Numerical or narrative criteria that specify allowable water quality conditions
in a water body.
Water Right
A property right to the use of a portion of the public's surface or tributary
groundwater resource obtained under applicable legal procedures.
Waters of the State
All surface and subsurface water in Colorado, except water withdrawn from the
environment for use.
Well
Any structure or device used for the purpose or with the effect of obtaining
groundwater for beneficial use from an aquifer. Every well requires a State
Engineer-issued permit.
Wetlands
Areas near the margin between water and land (such as swamps and marshes) that
are wet enough to support plant growth typically found in saturated soil
conditions.
