December 5, 2007--State top court hears water appeal (Alamosa News)
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments regarding District Judge O. John Kuenhold's 2006 decision affirming the state engineer's confined aquifer rules for the Rio Grande Basin. Kuenhold approved the state's rules governing new withdrawals from the Valley's confined aquifer agreeing with the state engineer that the Rio Grande Basin's streams and aquifers are overappropriated and cannot handle new withdrawals without injuring existing water rights and that a one-for-one replacement required in the rules for new withdrawals is necessary to prevent injury to senior vested water rights.
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