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<br />,;. <br /> <br />the State of Colorado, from which water is exported, will not be impaired <br /> <br /> <br />nor increased in cost at the expense of the water users within the natural <br /> <br /> <br />basin. The facilities and other means for the accomplishment of said <br />purpose shall be incorporated in, and made a part of any project plans for <br />the exporting of water from said natural, basin in Colorado.'J-28 <br /> <br />"The effect of this provision is that a project (for irrigation and other <br /> <br /> <br />consumptive uses) proposing to divert water from the Colorado River across <br /> <br /> <br />the continental divide must include within the plans compensatory storage <br /> <br /> <br />that would put the west slope in as good a position for present and future <br /> <br /> <br />development as if the diversion project had never been constructed and the <br /> <br /> <br />river had remained physically unregulated. Although this provision applies <br /> <br /> <br />only to Conservancy Districts it nevertheless has had considerable impact <br /> <br /> <br />because these are the entities customarily used (because of their financial <br /> <br /> <br />flexibility) for non-federal water development in Colorado. <br /> <br />''It is important to note that the principal entity not covered by the statute <br />is the City of Denver. That city has denied that it is held to the principle <br />of compensatory storage (concededly it was not covered by the above <br />statute) and has received support in this position (from) the Colorado <br />Supreme Court, which said: <br /> <br />'We find nothing in the Constitution which even intimates that waters should <br />be retained for use in the watershed where originating. The waters here <br /> <br /> <br />involved are the property of the public, not any segment thereof, nor are <br /> <br /> <br />they dedicated to any geographical portion of the state. The right to <br /> <br /> <br />appropriate water and put the same to beneficial use at any place in the <br /> <br />-24- <br />