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Opening Brief
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Last modified
1/26/2010 4:41:42 PM
Creation date
7/29/2009 3:05:54 PM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Water Supply Protection
File Number
8230.2F
Description
Colorado Supreme Court Appeal
State
CO
Basin
Colorado Mainstem
Water Division
4
Date
7/26/2004
Author
Ken Salazar, Susan Schneider
Title
Opening Brief
Water Supply Pro - Doc Type
Court Documents
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appropriate water for instream uses. Article XVI, section 6 of the Colorado Constitution <br />provides that "[t]he right to divert the unappropriated waters of any natural stream to beneficial <br />uses shall never be denied." (Emphasis added). "The reason and thrust for this provision was to <br />negate any thought that Colorado would follow the riparian doctrine in the acquisition and use of <br />water." CWCB, 594 P.2d at 574. Until SB 216, the Colorado prior appropriation system <br />required a physical diversion, whereas the previously rejected riparian system allows water to be <br />claimed for instream uses. Id. Thus, the constitutional right to divert does not grant a <br />constitutional right to instream uses. <br />Article XVI, section 5, of the Colorado Constitution provides that "[t]he water of every <br />natural stream, not heretofore appropriated, within the state of Colorado, is hereby declared to be <br />the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the state, subj ect <br />to appropriation as hereinafter provided." This Court has already rejected the argument "that <br />section 5 of Article XVI of the Colorado Constitution establishes the public right to recreational <br />use of all waters in the state." People v. Emmert, 597 P.2d 1025, 1028 (Colo. 1979). <br />In rejecting a constitutional right to recreational use of Colorado's water, the Colorado <br />Supreme Court recognized that "the increasing demand for recreational space ... is to be <br />accommodated [by] the legislative process. ..." Emmert, 597 P.2d at 1029. This Court has also <br />always recognized the right of the Legislature to define terms, such as beneficial use, or to limit <br />instream flow appropriations to "minimum" amounts. Seee•g•, Colorado Ground Water Com'n <br />v. North Kiowa-Bijou Groundwater Management Dist., 77 P.3d 62, 78 fn. 34 (Colo. 2003); <br />CWCB, 594 P.2d at 574. It is clearly the duty of the Legislature, not the water courts, to <br />7
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