Colorado Division of Water Resources  1313 Sherman Street, Suite 821  Denver, Colorado 80203  www.water.state.co.us  303-866-3581  February​ 2018 

 

Frequently Asked Questions     These are some of the questions most frequently asked of the Colorado Division of Water Resources. You  may click on any Topic in the Index to jump to that section. If your question is not answered here, please  contact us by Phone​ ​or our online​ ​AskDWR Information Request Form​.     

FAQ TOPICS INDEX   

Board of Examiners (BOE)  Colorado Ground Water Commission (CGWC)  Dam Safety  General  Publications  Records Research  Water Rights  Well Permitting   

Board of Examiners (BOE)        

1. Q: How do I file a complaint against a contractor?  A: Follow the ​Complaint Process and Procedure Document  2. Q: I'm new in the area. Where do I find a driller?  A: Review our website for ​Licensed Contractors​ listings  3. Q: Who are the members of the Board of Examiners?  A: The Board Information, including Board Members is ​found here​. 

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    4. Q: Who do I contact if I have questions about the Board of Examiners (BOE)?  A: Contact the ​Chief Well Inspector​ for any questions about the BOE. 

Colorado Ground Water Commission (CGWC)  1. Q: How do I Prepare For a Hearing Before the Ground Water Commission?  A: See the white paper ​The Non-Lawyers' Guide to Hearings before the Colorado Ground Water Commission​. 

Dam Safety  1. Q: Is any kind of State permit required to clean out an existing pond?  A: From the information you provided, your dam would be considered a non-jurisdictional dam. A jurisdictional  dam is one that has a statutory height of greater than 10 feet in height to the spillway crest, or creates a  reservoir with more than 100 acre-feet of water, or covers a surface area of more than 20 acres at high  waterline. A non-jurisdictional dam is one smaller than a jurisdictional dam. The ​Rules and Regulations for  Dam Safety and Dam Construction​ provide additional information. You can also review the ​Guide to  Construction and Administration of Dams in Colorado​, which is helpful in providing general information  regarding dams, livestock water tanks, and erosion control dams.     To answer your specific question, a permit would not be required to clean out and deepen an existing pond not  tributary to a stream catchment area, provided the pond would not intercept groundwater by doing so. If the  pond intercepts groundwater, the issues become more complicated. In short, by intercepting groundwater, the  pond becomes a well by statutory definition, and the statutes and rules and regulations regarding well use and  well construction could apply. It would then be necessary to either line the pond to prevent groundwater  interception, or obtain a ​well permit​ from this office, and a ​plan for augmentation​ from the local Division  Water Court​ for any uses of water from the pond including evaporation. The purpose of the plan for  augmentation would be to prevent injury to senior vested water rights. 

 

   

 

2. Q: Where can I find the regulations governing the collection and containment of stormwater runoff on  private and public property?  A: The regulations regarding stormwater runoff on public property is under the jurisdiction of the Colorado  Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Division. This information can be found  at the following link: ​http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/wq/PermitsUnit/wqcdpmt.html     There are limited regulations and statutes regarding capturing stormwater runoff on private property. One  option is to capture stormwater runoff in a ​Livestock Watering Tank ​or ​Erosion Control Dam​. For more  information, please also see our ​Guide to Well Permits, Water Rights, and Water Administration​. 

3. Q: Where are Dam Safety application forms?  A: Dam safety forms may be found on the ​dam safety forms​ web page. All forms are in Adobe Acrobat format.  

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General   1. Q: Where is the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) located?  A: Please visit our ​Contact Pages​ for the Denver Office Location as well as Locations throughout the state  (Listed by City and River Basin).   

Publications   

 

1. Q :Are the Policies of the State Engineer's office available?  A: Yes. They are available through our ​Policies and Guidelines web page​.  2. Q: ​Are your Rules and Regulations on the web?  A: Yes. They are available through our ​Rules and Regulations web page​.  3. Q: ​How can I view a list of the publications available by your office?  A: The ​Comprehensive Publication and Media Guide ​lists all the publications available. Rules and Regulations  and various other publications are available for free online. Other publications are only available for purchase  through the Records Section. Contact the Records Information Line with any questions at: (303) 866-3581 (M -  F): 9:00AM to 4:00PM    

Records Research   1. Q: ​What information do I need to know in order to find a well permit?  A: The permit number is the preferred search to find a well permit. Otherwise, a complete   legal description and history of ownership on the property is needed.    2. Q: ​How far back do your well permit records go?  A: Well permit records include all water wells drilled after 5/8/1972. They also include many   wells that were late registered that were in use prior to that timeframe. Through the process   of property sales and well replacement applications more of these historic wells are becoming   registered in our Records.    3. Q: ​Where can I get the Section, Township, and Range or legal description for my property?  A: Look up your property address with the County Tax Assessor to obtain your full legal   Description.    4. Q: ​How can I get a copy of a permit that was issued recently that is not online yet?  A: If the permit is not yet available through Well Permit Search, then contact Records   Research. Records Information Line: 303-866-3581 Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.    5. Q:​ How can I get a copy of a well permit on your website?  A: ​ ​Use DWR’s ​Well Permit Search Tool​. Contact the Records Information Line with any    questions at: 303-866-3581 Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.     

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Water Rights 

 

1. Q: ​Where can I find Colorado State Statutes?  A: Colorado State Statutes may be found at ​http://www.michie.com/colorado​. Select  Colorado Revised Statutes ​from the left-hand menu of options to expand the list of Titles. Select TITLE 37  WATER AND IRRIGATION to review current Colorado Water Laws.    2. Q: How do I Prepare For a Hearing Before the State Engineer?  A: See the white paper ​The Non-Lawyers' Guide to Hearings before the State Engineer​.  3. Q: How can I obtain Water Rights Ownership Information?  A: The Division of Water Resources does not require that ownership or transfers of ownership of water rights or  shares in ditches be submitted to our office and we are not aware of any general requirement that this  information be recorded as a public record. As a result, the Division of Water Resources does not have  ownership information for water rights or ditch shares.     If you are trying to research information regarding ownership of shares in a ditch or how many shares you may  own in the ditch, you should contact the ditch company. Ditch companies have different policies on the  release of ownership information. Some ditch companies may not give ownership information to anyone that is  not a shareholder in the ditch.     If you are trying to research information about water rights for a particular property, you may try researching  county records, since recorded deeds may give specific references to water rights. You may also try the Water  Court since a few decrees require ownership changes to be filed with the court.   

  4. Q: What can I do with a spring on my property?  A: Although the Colorado State statutes don’t specifically define a spring, a hydrologic definition is “A  discharge of groundwater on the surface in sufficient quantities so as to produce a current of flowing water.”    One issue that quickly arises is whether or not the spring is actually a well. A well is defined by statute as,  “…any structure or device used for the purpose or with the effect of obtaining groundwater for beneficial use  from an aquifer.” A change in the law in 1995 provided an exception to the definition of a well for certain  limited excavated spring developments of natural springs. If the spring development meets the following  conditions, it is excluded from requiring a well permit or compliance with the Water Well Construction Rules:  The structure or device used to capture or concentrate the natural spring discharge must be located at or  within 50 feet of such spring. The structure or device used to capture or concentrate the natural spring  discharge must be no more than 10 feet below ground surface. The owner ​must​ adjudicate (obtain a water  right through the water court) the structure or device as a spring, which would then be subject to  administration in the priority system with all other water rights.    If the spring development fails to meet the above conditions, it must be considered a well, which withdraws  groundwater, and all of the laws associated with a well apply. If the spring development does meet the above  conditions, it is not mandatory that it be considered a spring subject to administration in priority. It is the  owner’s option to either adjudicate the structure as a spring or permit it as a well. If permitted as a well, the  owner must comply with the requirements of the Water Well Construction Rules regarding well construction  and variances thereto. 

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  Most of the state’s natural surface drainage systems are over-appropriated by senior vested water rights. In  simplistic terms, that means that there are more decreed water rights claims on the system than can be  satisfied by the physical amount of water available. Therefore, under the ​priority system​ (“first in time, first  in right”), when the most senior rights are making a call for water, the most junior rights have to curtail  diverting until the calling senior rights are satisfied. A new water right for a developed spring would be so  junior, that on an over-appropriated drainage system, there may be few or no times of the year when water  could be beneficially used from the spring. It might seem then that it would be most advantageous to call the  structure a well, but not necessarily. A potential problem here is that if there is already a well on the  property, you may not be able to obtain a permit to permit the spring as a well. Furthermore, even if there  was no existing well on the property and you were able to obtain a permit, in many areas of the state, the use  of the water would be limited to in-house use only if the well were to be the only well on less than 35 acres.  Additionally, use of a shallow spring well as a water source for a residential dwelling raises questions about the  quality of the water and the dependability of the supply.    5. Q: How do I contact Water Court?  A: Contact information for each Divisional water court is accessed by selecting a Water   Division from the ​By Division​ options in the Colorado State Judicial Branch's ​Water Courts   section. 

 

Well Permitting     

1. Q: Where do I find information on well use in regard to Amendment 64 and Cultivation of Cannabis?  A: See the FAQ document: ​Well and Water Use in Regards to Amendment 64 and Cultivation of Cannabis 

Have additional questions? ​Send an ​AskDWR​ ​request​ or call DWR’s Ground Water Information  Desk between 9am and 4pm Monday through Friday at (303) 866-3587. 

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