PUB00057

• Year: 1978
• Title: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• CWCB Section: Water Conservation & Drought Planning
• Author: EDO DNR
• Description: First publicatiom of the Colorado Water Study volumes
• Publications - Doc Type: Brochure

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River Compact, coupled with estimates of virgin flows dating from
1906, indicate that up to one million acre-feet of water per year,
on the average, may remain for consumption in Colorado a However, an
unfavorable interpretation of the compact, or downward revisions of
virgin flow estimates, could result in a substantial reduction in
that figure. In addition, ongoing litigation concerning salinity stan-
dards under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act could result in
restrictions on future consumption of water from the Colorado River.

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East of the Continental Divide, it is clear that there is little
additional water left to consume, given physical and legal limitations
and present consumptive uses. The surface water supplies of the Laramie,
Arkansas, and Rio Grande river basins are, for all practical purposes,
fully utilized. On the North Platte River, additional water could
be devoted to irrigation on only a specified amount of land, but un-
limited amounts could apparently be devoted to any other use.* In the
South Platte River basin, only about 300,000 acre-feet of water per
year remain, on the average, for Colorado to consume. However, it
is unlikely that more than about two-thirds of that amount can be con-
sumed since significant amounts of return flows from irrigated
agriculture enter the river too far downstream to be recaptured.
Finally, while significant ground water reserves underlie the
Northern High Plains region, they are being pumped at rates which
probably will exhaust this source over the next 25 to 50 years.

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Even though legally available to Colorado, the amount of water
which can actually be developed for additional future consumption
in any basin may be limited by recurring droughts. This is because
low priority conditional decrees, which would receive relatively
little or no water during times of low flow, may never be developed
due to the risks of reliance on such uncertain water supplies.

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In short, Colorado water supplies are limited, and their avail-
ability is subject to fluctuation and uncertainty. In light of these
facts, Colorado has developed a system for the distribution and use
of water, which recognizes water rights as property rights that can
be severed from the land and freely trans~erred to other uses or
locations. This water rights system, as embodied in the Colorado
Constitution, statutes, and case law, is described below.

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*Under the terms of the U.S. Supreme Court decree in Nebraska v.
Wyoming, 325 U.S. 589 (1945), as amended by subsequent order of the
court (345 U.S. 981) in 1953, Colorado may irrigate 145,000 acres in
Jackson County. Estimates of acreage currently irrigated range from
110,000 LO 125,000 acres. The decree also limits the amount of trans-
basin diversions. However, domestic and municipal uses are not limited,
and the decree is silent on all other uses.

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