Chapter 4: Water
Practitioners of environmental and real estate law in Colorado will encounter water law either directly or indirectly at some point in their careers simply because a legal right is required to use water for any purpose, including domestic, municipal, commercial, industrial, and environmental, such as monitoring and remediation. This chapter provides a brief overview of Colorado water law, with a focus on the types of property rights that can be important in the environmental law and real estate context.
§ 4.1 Basics of Colorado Water Law
§ 4.1.1 Water Allocation in Colorado
§ 4.1.2 Types of Water Rights
Surface Water
Groundwater
§ 4.2 Federal Clean Water Act
§ 4.2.1 Jurisdiction
§ 4.3 Colorado Water Quality Control Act
§ 4.3.1 Use Classifications
§ 4.3.2 Water Quality Standards
§ 4.3.3 Triennial Reviews
§ 4.3.4 Antidegradation
§ 4.3.5 Wetlands
§ 4.3.6 Groundwater Standards
§ 4.3.7 Point Sources
§ 4.3.8 Domestic Wastewater Treatment Works
§ 4.3.9 Stormwater
§ 4.3.10 Nonpoint Sources
§ 4.3.11 Individual Sewage Disposal Systems (Onsite Wastewater Systems, Septic Tanks, etc.)
§ 4.3.12 Section 208 Regional Plans
§ 4.3.13 Impaired Waters (303(d) List) and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
§ 4.3.14 Enforcement
§ 4.3.15 Citizen Suits
§ 4.4 CWA Section 404, Dredge and Fill Permitting
§ 4.4.1 Discharge of Dredged or Fill Material
§ 4.4.2 Jurisdictional Waters
§ 4.4.3 Section 404 Permits
§ 4.5 CWA Section 401 State Certification
PETER D. NICHOLS, ESQ.
Trout, Raley, Montaño, Witwer & Freeman, P.C.
Peter D. Nichols is a director and officer of Trout, Raley, Montaño, Witwer & Freeman, P.C., practicing water, water quality, and related law. He drafted the amicus curiae briefs filed by Colorado and other western states’ attorneys general and by coalitions of western water users with the U.S. Supreme Court in Miccosukee Tribe of Indians v. South Florida Water Management District, 541 U.S. 95 (2004), and in Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited v. City of New York, No. 06-729 (2d Cir. 2007). Nichols also authored Miccosukee: The Potential for Clean Water Act Discharge Permits for Water Transfers, 31 Colo. Lawyer 119 (Sept. 2004). Peter is a co-author of Acquiring, Using and Protecting Water in Colorado (2005), and the Water Rights Handbook for Colorado Conservation Professionals (2006), also published by Bradford. Nichols served on the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission from 1993 to 1999 (chair 1997-1998) and is a frequent presenter on water quality at CLE programs. He is a Past President of the Colorado Water Congress Board of Directors. A member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Second and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeals, Colorado District Court and Colorado Bar, he earned his J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and holds an MPA from the University of Colorado and a B.A. from The Colorado College.
