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148 -21 -3, C.R.S. (1969). The legislature also provided that "beneficial use" included <br />"impoundment of water for recreational purposes." Id. The legislature defined <br />"diversion" as "removing water from its natural course or location, or controlling water in <br />its natural course or location, by means of a ditch, canal, flume, reservoir, bypass, <br />pipeline, conduit, well, pump, or other structure or device." Id.; § 37- 92- 103(7). Finally, <br />the legislature removed the term "storage water right," which was defined as "the right of <br />impounding the water for future beneficial use," from section 148 -9 -1 (1963). <br />No legislative history exists explaining why the legislature included the term <br />"controlling water in its natural course or location." However, subsequent statements <br />regarding diversion show that the legislature understood that a constitutionally based <br />diversion requirement exists, despite the "controlling water" language. (House Journal — <br />76 Day — March 19, 1973, pp. 626 -627, 666, hereinafter referred to as `Exhibit A," as <br />attached hereto). <br />In 1973, Senate Bill 97 ( "SB 97 ") vested the Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />( "CWCB ") with the authority, on behalf of the State of Colorado, to appropriate water of <br />natural streams to preserve the natural environment to a reasonable degree without a <br />diversion "in the conventional sense." Colorado River Water Conservation Dist. v. <br />Colorado Water Conservation Bd. 594 P.2d 570, 575 (Colo. 1979). In passing SB 97, <br />the legislature had expressed concerns "as to whether or not the constitutional words `to <br />divert' ... can be changed by statute to allow `diversion to mean leaving water in the <br />stream....' " (Legislative History, SB 97 Hearings Before the Senate Committee on <br />Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources, February 5, 1973, pp. 2, 3, hereinafter <br />referred to as "Exhibit B," as attached hereto). The Colorado Supreme Court declined to <br />