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Lower South Platte Foru m igher demands for water and prioritization of water use along with concerns about a drought situation prompted approximately 140 participants to attend the Lower South Platte Water Symposium held in February at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. This year's theme, Valuing Your Water, included a variety of topics. Mike Gabaldon (Deputy Director of Operations, U.S. De- partment of Interior, Denver), keynote speaker, presented an historical review of water use in the West as well as future proposed policy on water availability to municipalities. Not- ing the growing population and the drought conditions in the West, he said that water management is critical. Citing tree ring studies and the all -time low levels at Lake Powell, Gabaldon said that the current drought is one of the worst in 500 years. Reviewing Secretary Gale Norton's Water 2025 project — designed to recognize and prevent conflict and crisis in water issues in the West – he emphasized the importance of water management in preventing critical short- ages and pointed out that President Bush's budget reflects an interest in Water 2025. Rick Brown (Colorado Water Conservancy Board) reviewed water demands in Colorado in general and in the Lower South Platte River. Citing population increase, he noted that water demands will increase by 2030, and conserva- H : Valuing Your Water tion measures by farmers will be necessary. He spoke of a decrease in irrigated acreages in future, and the conversion of agricultural land to residential development. Alan Berryman (Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District) summarized the three -state water agreement be- tween Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas. He emphasized the necessity of meeting future water use goals, and pointed out the necessity of long -range water management in address- ing endangered species such as Pallid Sturgeon, Whooping Crane, Least Terns, and Piping Plover. Other speakers included Jim Hall (Office of the State En- gineer) who reported on Colorado's water in 2004. Refer- ring to the snow pack information gathered annually by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, he said "Local res- ervoirs are in better shape than last year at this time. Most reservoirs are or will be filled prior to the end of March." Well augmentation, the replacement of river water deple- tions caused by out -of- priority pumping of a well, was dis- cussed by Scott Cuthbertson (Office of the State Engineer). He reviewed the impact of well depletion on the Lower South Platte River, with a focus on compliance with current well augmentation regulations. Justice Gregory Hobbs completed the symposium by ad- dressing the value of water rights. His presentation is reprinted following this article. How to Value Your Water Right, The Legal Framework Justice Greg Hobbs Lower South Platte Forum, Sterling, Colorado February 23, 2005 Thank you for your invitation. I attended your forum in 2003 in the midst of a devastating drought. In 2002, river flows in Colorado had fallen to historic lows based on recorded gauge data. A hydrograph of measured flows at the Kersey gauge below Denver for the years 1977 to 2002 shows that the 2002 levels were at rock bottom. As they must under Colorado's prior appropriation doctrine, our water enforcement officials —the State Engineer, the Division Engineer, and the local water commissioners—re - sponded to senior water rights calls by curtailing junior diver- sions; water flows were so low that direct flow ditches with priorities dating to the early 1860's were the only surface diversions able to enjoy the use of their water rights. Yet, wells drilled into the tributary aquifers of the South Platte River with priorities as junior as the 1950s were continuing to divert. Was this pumping legal? Should it be allowed to continue? These huge and divisive questions sounded everywhere along the river and pushed upstream to the Water Court, the Colorado Supreme Court and the General Assembly. Under Colorado law, all ground water is presumed to be part of the surface stream system unless proved to be non- tributary. In 1951, the Colorado Supreme Court stated this fundamental principle as follows: Under our Colorado law, it is the presumption that all ground water ... finds its way to the stream in the watershed of which it lies, is tributary thereto,