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balance recreatiorLal opportunities and more traditional consumptive tises in order tc) maximize <br />the utilization of ivater for beneficiat use, similar to the limits placed on the appropriations of <br />minimum flows ti) preserve the natural environment to a reasonable degee. Id. <br />City of Fort Collins, which explicitly recognized that the CWCB possesses by statute the <br />exclusive right to appropriate minimum stream flows as are requirecl to preserve the natural <br />environment to a reasonable degree, 830 P.2d at 930, does not sugg?:st that the right to divert <br />water for benefic ial use, as those terms are defined by statute, is an unlimited constitutional right <br />to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses. Whether a <br />traditional diversion is necessary, the nature of the diversion necessary to effect an appropriation, <br />and the nature of beneficial uses are subjects which the General Asse;mbly has the power to <br />define to ensure :-naximum utilization of water. Cf. City of Thornton v. Bijou Irr. C;o., 926 P.2d <br />at 86 (in additiorl to the- dual focus on maximum beneficial use for pr.otection of w,3ter rights, <br />water judges mu3t give consideration to the potential impact of the utilization of water on other <br />resources; imposition of a revegetation conditions was within the trial court's authority to <br />balance the beneficial use of water with the preservation of other natural resource:: even w2thout <br />legislative authorization). <br />V. CONCLUSION <br />The Water judge's failure to apply section 37-92-103(10.3) to limit Applic:ant's RICD to <br />the minimum stream flow for a reasonable recreation experience nuis contrary to 'both the <br />purpose and intE:nt of Senate Bill 216 and long-estabtished Colorado water law principles <br />designed to ensiire optimum use of a scarce resource. Nor can the Water judge's failure be <br />supported by th-1 constitutional right to appropriate. Therefore, the Water judge's decision to <br />grant the Applic:ant the full measure of the stream flow requested by the Applicant without <br />determirzing the minimum stream flow for a reasonable recreation experience must be reversed. <br />22