Colorado State Water Plan 1974 (Phase II)

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State Water Laws, Policies, and Administration to appropriate water. The State Engineer is responsible for the issuance of a permit to construct a well. In order to issue a permit, he must determine that there is unappropriated water available and that the vested rights of others will not be materially injured by the issuance of the permit. In Colorado, the rights of appropriators are determined in judicial proceed- ings in the district courts presided over by the water judges. The State Engineer and division engineers administer and distribute water to the owner of water rights in accordance with court adjudicated decrees for certain amounts of water and priorities in time for each right. Administration, distribution, and regulation of the use of water, both surface and underground, may be accomplished through the promulgation of rules and regulations or through the issuance of orders to individual owners and users of water rights. For example, division engineers must order discontinuance of any diversion of water not necessary for beneficial use or of any diversion of water causing material injury to water rights having senior priorities. They must also order the release from storage all water illegally or improperly stored. They administer the movement of water involved in a plan of augmentation or a water use project. They may order the installation and maintenance of meters, gages, and other measuring devices and may issue orders so that streams may be kept clear of unnecessary dams and obstructions that may impede the flow of water to water users. The State Engineer and division engineers may enforce their orders by applying through the Attorney General to the division water judge for injunctions. Another important duty of the State Engineer and division engineers is the tabulation of decreed water rights. Before 1969, no system had been devised to keep statewide or division records of all the decreed priorities drawing water from the same or common sources of supply. In 1969, the General Assembly passed the Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969, which authorized the tabulation of a priority list in numbered sequence of all decreed water rights taking water from the same or a common source of supply. Existing irrigation district subdivisions were abolished and the present seven water divisions were created. A "common source" was defined as including "all of those waters in a water division, either surface or underground, which if left in their natural state would join together to form a single natural watercourse prior to exit from the water division. " The division engineer of each division was directed not later than October 10, 1973, to prepare for administrative purposes a tabulation of all decreed water rights and conditional rights in his division in order of seniority, setting forth the priority and amount for each right as established by court decrees. 2.3