PUB00148

• Year: 1978
• Title: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Description: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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water it needs to carry out the purposes of each reservation of lands
(e.g., national forests, national parks, national monuments, Indian
reservations, public springs and water holes, etc.) from the public
domain, with a priority date as of the day of reservation. Because
the federal "reserved rights" are so senior (e.g., the bulk of the
national forests in Colorado were reserved before 1907), there are
very'few water rights awarded under Colorado law which are not poten-
tially affected by federal claims.

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C. Initial Allocation of Water--Prior Appropriation.

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With one possible exception, the rights to use Colorado water are
established under the Colorado version of the prior appropriation doc-
trine. That doctrine stands for the general proposition that, when one
uses water, at a particular time of year and for a particular purpose,
that person has a water right--a right to always so use the water as
against all subsequent users. Consequently, the popular characterization
of the prior appropriation doctrine is "firs t-in-time is first-in-right."
That common view is, however, deceptively simple and somewhat misleading
since the continued exercise of such a water right is wholly dependent
on appropriate judicial or administrative recognition and protection.
There are at least two exceptions to the prior appropriation doctrine,
both more apparent than real. The Colorado Constitution would appear
to establish a set of preferences which would abrogate the prior appro-
priation doctrine in times of shortage by giving preference for the
use of water to domestic, agricultural, and manufacturing purposes--in
that order. Supreme court interpretations of that provision indicate,
however, that the preferred use enjoys only the right of condemnation
over a lesser preferred use. There is also a statute which appears to
give the first right to use spring water to the owner of the land upon
which the spring arises. By supreme court decision, it is now clear
that the statute is effective only when the spring is not tributary to
a natural stream.

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In Colorado, water rights are obtained in a variety of ways depend-
ing on the legal classification of the water in which a right is sought.
There are three such classifications: tributary water. designated
ground water, and nontributary water.

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1. Tributary Water.

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Tributary water is that which is hydrologically connected to a
natural stream and includes not only the water flowing in the stream,

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