Glossary of Terms

Augmentation: Supplementing the water supply of a stream affected by well depletion, in order to protect senior water rights on a stream. Augmentation puts no water in the well. It is not designed to recharge
the aquifer.

Augmentation Certificate: A document representing the ownership of an augmentation water right.

Basin: A region drained by a single river system.

Beneficial Use: Under Colorado State Law, uses to which water can legally be applied (agriculture, domestic, municipal and industrial).

Blue Line: Defines the area within which the District's blanket augmentation plan might benefit.

Consumptive Use: Water that is withdrawn through :evaporation and transpiration, incorporated into products or crops, consumed by humans or livestock, or otherwise removed from the immediate water environment.

Groundwater: Water beneath the earth's surface, often between saturated soil and rock, that supplies
wells and springs.

Native Water: Water arising within a basin or drainage (eg. the Arkansas River Basin).

Priority System: The relative seniority of a water right which determines the right to divert the water in relation to other rights in periods of limited supply.

Project Water: Water from the transmountain diversion from the Frying Pan River to the Arkansas River Basin, officially called the Frying Pan Arkansas Project.

Stream Depletion (evapo-transpiration): Losses of water to a stream or river caused by well use, evaporation or otherwise.

Surface Water: Water that flows in streams, rivers, natural lakes, wetlands, and reservoirs.

Transmountain Water: Water whose source is from an adjacent basin (eg.Western Slope water).

Watershed: The region draining into a river, river system or other body of water.

Well Permit: A permit to drill a well issued by the Colorado Division of Water Resources.