Colorado State Water Plan 1974 (Phase II)

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State Water Laws, Policies, and Administration the legal priority of the right--that is, the seniority by date as of which the right is entitled to divert--must be determined in relation to all other rights deriving water from a common source subject to the rule that no award of priority made in any calendar year can be senior to any award made for rights for which applications were filed in a previous calendar year. Priorities may be obtained for conditional water rights in the same manner though, owing to a necessary lengthy period of development, no water under an application can be expected to be applied to beneficial use, even for many years, until after the initial application. In such cases, subject to the rule requiring due diligence in prosecuting a project to completion, the appropriation.date is said to relate back from the date of completion to the earliest date on which a substantial act providing an open, physical demonstration thereof is joined with an intention to initiate an appropriation. An appropriator of a conditional right must show reasonable progress in completion of his project and in seeking to have his claim allowed. Showings of reasonable diligence are made by filing applications for findings thereof with the water clerk not later than June 1 of each even-numbered year. When perfected, a conditional right obtains the same priority date it would have received had the original proceedings in which the conditional decree was entered remained open until the final determination of the right. In Colorado, any person owning a water right is entitled to a right-of-way through the lands which lie between the point of diversion and the point of use for the purpose of transporting water for beneficial use. The power of eminent domain is conferred on water rights owners for the purpose of acquiring such a right-of-way but no occupied land can be subjected to the burden of more than one ditch or other structure without the landowner's consent and the shortest and most direct route practicable must be selected. Nature and Limit of Rights Ownership of unappropriated water in natural streams is in the public, subject to appropriation. The appropriative right is right to the use of the water, rather than outright ownership. This usage right of the appropriator is based on the condition that the use is for beneficial purposes and is usually characterized as an interest in real property, entitling the owner to all the advantages and profits therefrom. As such, it is a vested property right, protected by the constitution, until lost by abandonment. It is alienable and transferable, either as an appurtenance to land, or if severed from the land, separately and independently therefrom. 2. 7