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<br />. 030033 <br /> <br />TITLE: <br /> <br />COLORADO WATER RIGHTS ADMINISTRATION <br /> <br />REED: <br /> <br />To provide the State Engineer's office with a tool to aid in the <br />administration and management of water rights, and to allow water <br />users access to this tool and on-line data bases so they may <br />improve the management of their individual water supplies. <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: <br /> <br />Water rights administration is an increasingly complex task for the <br />State Engineer's Office because of the desire to better manage the <br />resource and, at the same time, keep up with the ever increasing <br />numbers of complex water rights, exchanges, transfers, and <br />augmentation plans to be administered. On the Colorado River the <br />amount of water rights decrees number in the hundreds with changes <br />occurring continuously. The result is that the Division Engineer <br />and the local water commissioners can only administer the obvious <br />and straight forward water rights in operation at anyone time, and <br />cannot respond to innovative or irregular river calls and <br />procedures because of the lack of time and ability to analyze the <br />consequences of any actions initiated by the water users to better <br />manage their water resources. <br /> <br />In order to overcome some of the difficult administration problems, <br />the State Engineer's Office and water users have added automated <br />data collection systems, accounting sheets have been computerized, <br />and various types of hydrologic and hydraulic simulation computer <br />models have been developed. Unfortunately most of these new <br />developments have just complicated the administration process by <br />creating a large amount of information that is generally not timely <br />and cannot be assimilated by water users and administrators for <br />decision making. In addition, water users and administrators <br />generally are not able to use the developed tools, in particular <br />the computer models, for various reasons. An information <br />management crisis has developed and even with the presently <br />developed tools, water administration is becoming intractable. <br />Using today's technology, however, these problems could potentially <br />be overcome if a system or tool was developed which could simulate <br />various water rights scenarios, automatically using all available <br />data, and accessible to both water users and water administrators. <br /> <br />As competition for water from the Colorado River basin escalates, <br />time consuming and expensive litigation will increase. Both water <br />users and State Engineer's staff are generally required to develop <br />computer models to prove their side of the issue, in most cases <br />resul ting in a duplication of effort. Consequently, many resources <br />are expended in arguing about each model, the data used, and model <br />assumptions. This effort could be minimized or litigation even <br />avoided if water users and water administrators use the same <br />computer models and data. <br />