From The Pueblo Chieftain (Patrick Malone):
Sponsored in the House by Rep. Kathleen Curry, U-Gunnison, [SB 10-052] (pdf) seeks to honor already permitted wells in the event that the Colorado Ground Water Commission redraws boundaries of the state’s eight existing designated groundwater basins.
Designated groundwater basins generally are considered nontributary, or at least not adjacent to major streams and rivers. They may include municipal, industrial and agricultural uses. At odds in the bill are the rights of senior surface water rights and the interests of permitted well users relying on groundwater…
Arguing in favor of the bill, Sonnenberg said the Legislature recognized in the 1960s that managing groundwater basins required a different set of rules than the set steering surface rights and therefore established the Colorado Ground Water Commission. Surface rights holders who have claims of injury would not be left without recourse because they could bring their challenges to the commission, he said…
Initially, the House rejected the bill by head count, called a division vote, Tuesday. But supporters called for a recorded vote of the full House, and it was revived by a margin of 33-30, with two representatives excused…
Having already been passed by the Senate with little saber-rattling, the bill next faces a final vote of the House.
More 2010 Colorado legislation coverage here.