Colorado Water Conservation Handbook

• Year: 2004
• Title: CWCB Board Member Handbook
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Author: CWCB
• Description: Handbook containing phone numbers, addresses, statutes, rules, policies, straegic plans and Board member work plans.
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

ten cubic feet per second of time and for periods of not
less than twenty-four hours.

Article IV
The waters of the South Platte River hereafter
shall be divided and apportioned between the signatory
States as follows:
1. At all times between the fifteenth day of
October of any year and the first day of April of the next
succeeding year, Colorado shall have the full and
uninterrupted use and benefit of the waters of the river
flowing within the boundaries of the State, except as
otherwise provided by Article VI.
2. Between the fIrst day of April and the
fifteenth day of October of each year, Colorado shall not
permit diversions from the Lower Section of the river,
to supply Colorado appropriations having adjudicated
dates of priority subsequent to the fourteenth day of
June, 1897, to an extent that will diminish the flow of
the river at the Interstate Station, on any day, below a
mean flow of 120 cubic feet of water per second of
time, except as limited in paragraph three (3) of this
Article.
3. Nebraska shall not be entitled to receive and
Colorado shall not be required to deliver, on any day,
any part of the flow of the river to pass the Interstate
Station, as provided by paragraph two (2) of this
Article, not then necessary for beneficial use by those
entitled to divert water from said river within Nebraska.
4. The flow of the river at the Interstate Station
shall be used by Nebraska to supply the needs of present
perfected rights to the use of water from the river within
said State before permitting diversions from the river by
other claimants.
5. It is recognized that variable climatic
conditions, the regulation and administration of the
stream in Colorado, and other causes, will produce
diurnal and other unavoidable variations and
fluctuations in the flow of the river at the Interstate
Station, and it is agreed that, in the performance of the
provisions of said paragraph two (2), minor or
compensating irregularities and fluctuations in the flow
at the Interstate Station shall be permitted; but where
any deficiency of the mean daily flow at the Interstate
Station may have been occasioned by neglect, error or
failure in the performance of duty by the Colorado
water officials having charge of the administration of
diversions from the Lower Section of the river in that
state, each such deficiency shall be made up, within the
next succeeding period of seventy-two hours, by
delivery of additional flow at the Interstate Station, over
and above the amount specified in paragraph two (2) of
this Article, sufficient to compensate for such
deficiency.
6. Reductions in diversions from the Lower
Section of the river, necessary to the performance of
paragraph two (2) of this Article by Colorado, shall not
impair the rights of appropriators in Colorado (not to
include the proposed Nebraska canal described in
Article VI), whose supply has been so reduced, to

demand and receive equivalent amounts of water from
other parts of the stream in that State according to its
Constitution, laws, and the decisions of its courts.
7. Subject to compliance with the provisions
of this Article, Colorado shall have and enjoy the
otherwise full and uninterrupted use and benefit of the
waters of the river which hereafter may flow within the
boundaries of that State from the fIrst day of April to the
fifteenth day of October in each year, but Nebraska shall
be permitted to divert, under and subject to the
provisions and conditions of Article VI, any surplus
waters which otherwise would flow past the Interstate
Station.

Article V
1. Colorado shall have the right to maintain,
operate, and extend, within Nebraska, the Peterson
Canal and other canals of the Julesburg Irrigation
District which now are or may hereafter be used for the
carriage of water from the South Platte River for the
irrigation of lands in both states, and Colorado shall
continue to exercise control and jurisdiction of said
canals and the carriage and delivery of water thereby.
This Article shall not excuse Nebraska water users from
making reports to Nebraska officials in compliance with
the Nebraska laws.
2. Colorado waives any objection to the
delivery of water for irrigation oflands in Nebraska by
the canals mentioned in paragraph one (1) of this
Article, and agrees that all interests in said canals and
the use of waters carried thereby, now or hereafter
acquired by owners oflands in Nebraska, shall be
afforded the same recognition and protection as are the
interests of similar land owners served by said canals
within Colorado; provided, however, that Colorado
reserves to those in control of said canals the right to
enforce the collection of charges or assessments,
hereafter levied or made against such interest of owners
of the lands in Nebraska, by withholding the delivery of
water until the payment of such charges or assessments;
provided, however, such charges or assessments shall be
the same as those levied agairlst similar interests of
owners of lands in Colorado.
3. Nebraska grants to Colorado the right to
acquire by purchase, prescription, or the exercise of
eminent domain, such rights-of-way, easements or lands
as may be necessary for the construction, maintenance,
operation, and protection of those parts of the above
mentioned canals which now or hereafter may extend
into Nebraska.

Article VI
It is the desire of Nebraska to permit its
citizens to cause a canal to be constructed and operated
for the diversion of water from the South Platte River
within Colorado for irrigation oflands in Nebraska; that
said canal may commence on the south bank of said
river at a point southwesterly from the town of Ovid,
Colorado, and may run thence easterly through
Colorado along or near the line of survey of the

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