WSP11716

• File Number: 8507
• Description: Rio Grande Project
• State: CO
• Basin: Rio Grande
• Date: 7/1/1997
• Title: Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin part 1
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Water Management Study: Upper Rio Grande Basin

possess an instream flow water right (37-92-102 (3) C.R.S. 1990). The
CWCB, however, is required to request recommendations from state
agencies, the Division of Wildlife and the Division of Parks and Recreation,
and federal agencies, the Department of Interior and the Department of
Agriculture, before appropriating instream flow rights (Jennifer Gimbel and
Gale Norton, comment on draft report). Within the existing structure, many
instream appropriations are quite junior to appropriations tied to
out-of-stream use and, in years when flows are low, those with senior rights
may divert all the water..

Colorado requires the adjudication of most surface water rights and
establishes a process for defining, administering, and regulating water
rights. The adjudication process is a formal court proceeding resulting in the
granting of a decree which recognizes an individual's appropriative date, and
thus, their placement in the distribution of water supplies. A decree,
however, is not required for a valid water right, but instead confirms the
water right (People ex reI. Hal Simpson. et al. v. Hilrhland Canal. et aI.,
917 P.2d 1252 (Colo. 1996)). The adjudication process defines the amount of
water to be diverted, the diversion point at which the diversion will occur,
and the intended beneficial use of every water claim. The first adjudication
in the Rio Grande Basin was completed in 1896 and since then there have
been several general adjudication processes. Each decree awarded by the
court for a new water right is considered to be part of an on-going general
adjudication. Streams within the Basin are fully (or over-) appropriated and
most of the administrators' attention goes to ensuring that each user
complies with the terms of her water right. The administrators know where
the water right should be delivered, the amount to be delivered, and the use
and place of use ofthe rights (Jennifer Gimbel and Gale Norton, comment on
draft report).

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Groundwater in Colorado is either designated or non-designated.
Non-designated groundwater falls in one of two categories: tributary or
nontributary.

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Designated groundwater is water that: (1) in its natural course would not be
available to and required for the fulfillment of decreed surface rights; and

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, Under the law of prior appropriation, a decree for an instream flow right protects a
stream from further decreases in flow, and if those with senior water rights chose to change
their rights in any way, the instream flow right cannot be injured. The law also allows
for transfers, sales, and donations of senior water rights for instream flow purposes
(Jennifer Gimbel and Gale Norton, comment on draft report).

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