PUB00068 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

\ -26. As disclosed by the records of the State Engineer's office, the fol- 'Lowing six ditches, all in Water District No. 24, are the oldest ones in Colorado, the priority dates of which, range from April 10, 1852 to April 1854: . Name of Ditch Creek Priority No. Date Amount Priority Decreed Second-feet San Luis People's Di tch San Pedro Ditch Acquia Madre Ditch Montez Ditch Vallejos Ditch Manzanarlo Ditch Culebra and Rito Seco Culebra and Rito Seco Costilla Ri to Seco Vallejos Costilla 1 2 3 4 5 6 August March April April 10,1852 April 1852 1853 1853 1854 1854 23.00 19.50 22.50 1.00 17.00 23.00 I now come to the main subject on which I am supposed to talk; that is, the "History of Administration of the Public Vlater Supplies of Colorado. " The Legislature in 1879, following the adoption of the Constitution in 1876, realized that there had to be some authority to administer the water decrees of the Courts, so it created a few Water Districts through- out the State and the 'office of Water Commissioner. { . The l,aw provides that a Water District shall consist of all the lands irrigated by the waters diverted from a designated stream. There are now sixty-nine water districts in the State. . From time to time, the Legislature has created Irrigation Divisions, of which there are now seven, each of which includes the drainage basin of a major river system or an integral part thereof. In 1884, the Legislature created the office of Irrigation Superin- tendent which name ,~s later changed to that of Irrigation Division Engineer. Each of these officials have supervision over the water commissioners in. their respective irrigation divisions. These division engineers and water commissoners have certain pre- scribed duties, all of which pertain to the administration of the water decrees in their respective divisions and water districts. For the proper correlation of the duties and activities of these officials, the Legislature in 1881 created the office of State Engineer, with general authority and supervision over all of the public water supplies of the State and the administration thereof. There are eleven major stream systems of our State consisting of the Arkansas, Rio Grande, San Juan, Animas, Dolores, Gunnison, Colorado, White, Yampa, North Platte and South Platte Rivers. The Arkansas River produces an average of 1,150,000 acre-feet of wa ter per year, of which 880,000 acre-feet are actually consumed within the State.