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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as may tend to show compliance with the law.,,132 The appointment
of a referee to take testimony was left to the discretion of the
court.

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All owners of existing ditches and reservoirs were required to
file a statement of their claim to priority with the court, which
entitled them to notice of the proceedings and the right to present
evidence in support of their claim. In addition, important progress
was 'made in ascertaining future priorities by requiring each new ditch
or reservoir owner to file with the county clerk a map and statement
describing the construction of his facility.

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The Office of the State Engineer was created, with authority to
supervise the water companies and to measure the capacities of all
the streams, ditches, and reservoirs in the state. The state engineer
was also to supervise the construction and maintenance of measuring
devices which were required on every ditch and reservoir. However,
a provision requiring the state engineer to submit information con-
cerning the capacities of all the ditches in the district to the
court prior to its determination of priorities was deleted from the
final bill.133 There is evidence134 that in creating the Office of
the State Engineer, the legislature was greatly influenced by the
experience in California, where a similar office had been created
three years earlier.135

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Another innovation was the creation of water divisions encom-
passing an entire watershed. This had been suggested in the Denver
convention in 1878, but was not acted upon in the following year.
While the 1881 act did create three such divisions, for the South
Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande basins, respectively, they did not
become operational until 1887 when each existing division was provided
with a superintendent of irrigation.136

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The farmers had found that the damages caused by the construction
of rights-of-way were greater than expected. Consequently, the 1881
legislation put some controls on the exercise of the constitutional
right of access by prohibiting more than one ditch to be built
across anyone's land without his consent and requiring that the short-
est possible route be chosen.

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The first adjudication decree awarded under the Colorado system
was, appropriately enough, in Water District No.3 on the Poudre
River. Judge Elliot appointed Henry P. H. Bromwell, a principal
architect of the system, as referee. Bromwell filed his report on
March 20, 1882, and the decree was issued on April 11.137

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