Hermosa Creek Workgroup Meeting 2 Summary May 6 2008 Draft

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Bruce explained some of the terminology basic to understanding water rights and water law included in the Glossary of Water Terms distributed to the Hermosa Workgroup and available on the Web site for the River Protection Workgroup at ocs.fortlewis.edu /riverprotection. "Flow" is a measure of volume /time and is generally given in cubic feet per second ( "cfs "). One cfs is about 450 gallons per minute, a Large amount of water, roughly two acre -feet per day. The flow on Hermosa Creek varies. The average minimum is around 30 cfs and the average maximum is approximately 665 cfs. With regard to water volumes, there are about 7.48 gallons in each cubic foot of water and about 326,000 gallons in one acre -foot, which is the amount of water it would take to cover one acre of land one foot deep. "Water rights" are private property rights, which can be bought, sold, and traded. Water rights in Colorado date back before statehood to early mining laws. The water of the State belongs to the people of the State. The right to appropriate and use the unappropriated water of the State shall never be denied under the Colorado Constitution. Anyone can obtain a water right as long as it does not injure someone else's water right. Section 7 of the State Constitution, which covers rights -of -way for ditches, gives people a right to place a ditch across the property of another in order to put their water to use, with payment of "just compensation" to the owner of the property. The "doctrine of prior appropriation" is key to determining water - rights claims. Under this system, earlier uses have priority over later uses. This concept of "first in time, first in right" dates to before statehood. In many river systems in Southwest Colorado, this may not be an issue because there is plenty of water. A number of rivers do have water shortages, at least some time during the year. When there are water shortages, the doctrine of prior appropriation determines who receives the available water. Diversions by a 2008 water right, for instance, can be curtailed (shut off) to provide water for an earlier water right. "Adjudication" means a court process for decreeing water rights. "Appropriation" is putting water to use through some action taken on the ground. Both adjudication and appropriation dates are important in deciding water - rights priorities. The first, original, adjudication on the Animas River occurred in 1923. Adjudications that take place after an original adjudication are "supplemental ". The second adjudication on the Animas was in 1965. No water rights were adjudicated between the two decree dates. 3