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01 <br />Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District <br />02CW038 <br />to the defuution of beneficial use: "that amount of water that is reasonable and appropriate under <br />reasonably efficient practices to accomplish without waste the purpose for which the appropriation <br />is lawfully made". See C.R.S. § 37-92-103(4).' By determining amount with respect to beneficial <br />use, limits on the amount appropriated were inherently tied to the intent and acts of the appropriator <br />along with considerations ofreasonably efficient practices. See C.R.S. § 37-92-103(4) (the defmition <br />of "beneficial use" references the "purpose for which the appropriation is lawfully made"); Santa Fe <br />Ranches, 990 P.2d at 54 n. 9(Colo. 1999); Fort Collins, 830 P.2d at 932 ("... boat chutes and fish <br />ladders, when properly designed and constructed, are structures which concentrate the flow of water <br />to serve their intended purposes.... ). <br />The requirement of "reasonably efficient practices" within the definition of "beneficial use" <br />echoes one of the fizndamental requirements of the docfirine lrnown as "maximum utilization." See <br />Matter of Rules and Reg. Gov. Use, Control &Protection of Water Rights (also known as Alamosa- <br />LaJara Water Users Protection Ass'n v. Gould), 674 P.2d 914,933 (Colo. 1983) (stating that "[t]he <br />6 See also April 18, 2001 Hearing at 21 (remarks of attorney Mike Shuznnin: "Now, the <br />reason the bill is proposed is that current law provides only a scarce bit of general guidance on the <br />issue of how much water is enough. There's a defuution of beneficial use in the statute, and I'll <br />read the lcey part [omitted].... Now, I'm sure you can understand that those are only the most <br />general of standards. It gives a wide range of discretion to a court to interpret what is reasonable, <br />what is appropriate, and what occurs before waste would occur. That is what causes everyone <br />concern, and that is why you have heard the testimony you have about the fact that the legislature <br />needs to act to define some standards that are more specific than what current law has in it.") <br />-10-