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<br />000736 <br /> <br />Mr. Phil Doe <br />Page 9 <br />June 14, 1998 <br /> <br />highly unlikely that a reserved water right may be changed to a non-reservation purpose: if a <br />reserved water right is not to be used for irrigation of the reservation, it will be extinguished. <br />A recent decision by the Colorado Supreme Court, Chatfield East Well Co. Ltd. v. Chatfield <br />East Prqperty Owners Ass'n, 98 C.A.R. 1836 (April 20, 1998), reveals that the foregoing prin- <br />ciples are alive and well in the water law context. The Court held that a reservation of so-called <br />"not nontributary groundwater" may not be implied from a reservation of nontributary ground- <br />water stated in a deed--thus, pursuant to common law roles, narrowly restricting the reservation <br />to its terms--nor may the not nontributary groundwater be severed from the overlying land, since <br />the right to not nontributary groundwater is by statute dependent on land ownership. In reaching <br />its holding, the Court was guided by the anti-speculation doctrine. All these principles will come <br />into play in the reserved water right question, too, probably to the same effect. <br /> <br />9 <br />