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Section 4 <br />Legal Framework for Water Use <br />applicant in a change of use proceeding may take credit <br />for, and reuse, the historical CU associated with the prior <br />decreed use. Under this scenario, the amount of water <br />attributable to the historical CU of the senior water right <br />may be used and reused to extinction. Although this is <br />not "foreign water" by definition, it is another source of <br />fully consumable water. <br />In addition, in some circumstances, applicants for new <br />water rights may obtain decrees that allow a new <br />appropriation to carry with it a"fully consumable" <br />designation that allows the diverted water to be used and <br />reused to extinction if the initial appropriator has, from <br />the beginning, a plan to reuse the water. Recently, <br />challenges to these types of applications have focused <br />on whether the claimed use and reuse to extinction is <br />speculative in nature. <br />Any water that is deemed fully consumable may be <br />reused to extinction. In practice, municipal exchanges <br />involving fully consumable water (in most instances <br />municipal effluent or lawn irrigation return flow credits), <br />have been a means to reuse fully consumable water. <br />Recently, municipal entities have also started to operate <br />wastewater reclamation projects where fully consumable <br />water, in the form of effluent, is treated to a high standard <br />and used for outdoor irrigation purposes within the <br />municipality's service area. These projects involve <br />pumping the treated, fully consumable effluent to irrigate <br />portions of a service area and thereby reducing demand <br />for municipal potable supplies for irrigation. Reuse <br />projects involving either pumping or exchanges <br />potentially help increase efficiencies and reduce or <br />postpone the overall demand for new water supplies. <br />J~~a <br />$~ole'ri~ice Wo~e' $upplY Initia~ive <br />4.3.10 Conservation Activities <br />Conservation practices associated with both municipal <br />and agricultural uses can be an important tool in meeting <br />long-term water supply needs. Demand reduction is an <br />important component of water planning. To the extent <br />that conservation practices are reliable, and/or <br />permanent in nature, such practices can reduce the <br />overall demand for water and thereby reduce any <br />shortfall in supply. <br />Conservation measures can also take the form of <br />increased efficiencies. However, not all water conserved <br />through more efficient uses corresponds to an increase <br />in overall water supply to a water user. For example, a <br />water user could take steps to eliminate certain <br />phreatophytes and thereby "salvage" additional water. <br />That water, however, is owed to the stream and does not <br />necessarily accrue to the benefit of the specific water <br />user conducting the "salvage" activity, since a water user <br />cannot take credit for a"salvage" activity and thereby <br />divert more water.69 Salvage water is owed to the stream <br />to be diverted by downstream water users pursuant to <br />the priority system. <br />69 Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy Dist. v. Shelton <br />Farms, Inc., 187 Colo. 181 (1975). <br />C~A <br />S:\REPORT\WORD PROCESSING\REPORT\S4 11-7-04.DOC 4-11 <br />