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1-4 I I I I I I I .. I I I I I I I- I I I I I b. Types of Water Rights. Within the priority system, there are four types of water rights, which are not mutually exclusive: absolute, conditional, direct flow, and storage--all of which must be adjudicated in order to be enforceable. Conditional water rights, originally envisioned to protect large water projects which would take years to complete, are the simplest to establish. All one must show is the intent to appropriate water (to divert or store water and to apply the water to a beneficial use), together with some physical act (usually a survey) which is demonstrative of that intent. Upon the coexistence of that intent and physical act, a conditional water right is created and is ripe for adjudication. Once adjudicated, however, a conditional water right must be kept alive by quadrennial findings of the water court that the water project is being taken to completion with "reasonable diligence." Absolute water rights are established only by a completed appropri- ation, that is, the actual diversion or storage of water and its physical application to a beneficial use. A decree for an absolute water right may issue whether or not a conditional right has been previously decreed. A storage right is for the storage of water which will be applied to beneficial use at a later time. A direct flow right, on the other hand, contemplates the immediate application of water to a beneficial use. A rough rule of thumb, for which there is scanty authority, is that the retention of water for 24 hours or more requires a storage right. Both direct flow and storage rights may be either conditional or absolute.. 2. Designated Ground Water. Ground water found in certain areas of Colorado's eastern plains is called designated ground water. Those areas are called designated ground water basins and are established by the Colorado Ground Water Commission. Designated ground water may be either tributary or non- tributary to a natural stream and gains its identity solely by being included within the boundaries of a designated ground water basin. Rights to designated ground water are obtained under a modified appropriation doctrine, an approach similar to that in use in several surrounding states, where it has aptly been described as a "permit system." Under the Colorado permit system for designated ground water- basins, water rights are obtained solely by permits issued by the Ground Water Commission. In general, one desiring to appropriate designated ground water first applies for a conditional permit, which is granted if unappropriated