ASR Under Colorado Ground Water Law And Comparisons with Other Mountains and Plains Settings

This presentation reviews the issues surrounding Colorado’s opportunities and constraints related to aquifer recharge and storage in the various legal classifications of aquifers.  This includes the Denver Basin – for which the Colorado Division of Water Resources (DWR) has rules addressing aquifer storage – and the designated basins and alluvial aquifers.  The administration of Colorado water law for aquifer recharge and storage is complicated by the difference in administrative approaches through the Colorado Ground Water Commission and the Colorado DWR.  The presentation will also look at how similar issues are emerging and being addressed in other areas with similar topography and/or legal settings, particularly in Mountain and Plains regions, such as Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Kansas, Wyoming, and Alberta.