PUB00080

• Year: 1989
• Title: Colorado Citizens' Water Law Handbook - Colorado Water: The Next 100 Years
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: George Vranesh, P.E.
• Description: Handbook to help citizens learn about Colorado water law and define the role of water engineers
• Publications - Doc Type: Brochure

I. DEFINITION OF TERMS

As the following terms are used in the text, they will be followed by an ., A basic
understanding of them before the text is read will make the reading easier,

Abandonment of Water Rieht The abandonment of a water right results from an
intent to abandon, coupled with an act evidencing that intent. A conditional
water right may be terminated by the water court for failure to pursue a
completed appropriation with diligence, The non-use of a perfected water
right for an extended period may itself be evidence of an intent to abandon.

Adjudication The judicial process through which the existence of a water right is
confirmed by court decree,

Adverse Use Using decreed water owned by another appropriator. Adverse use for
a continuous period of eighteen years may result in loss of ownership by the
decreed owner and allow subsequent usage by the adverse user.

Aoorooriation The capture, impounding, or diversion of water from its natural
course or channel and its application to some beneficial use, private or per-
sonal, by the appropriator to the entire exclusion of all other persons, In
Colorado, the purported appropriator must have a legally vested interest or
a reasonable expectation of procuring such interest in the lands or facilities
to be served by such appropriation, The purported appropriator must also
have a specific plan and intent to divert, store, or otherwise capture, possess,
and control a specific quantity of water for specific beneficial uses,

Aoorooriation Doctrine The system of water law dominant in the western United
States under which: (I) the right to water is acquired by diverting water and
applying to a beneficial use; and (2) a right to water is superior to a right
acquired later in time,

Aoorooriator The person or persons who have taken water for beneficial use. A
junior appropriator is a person whose right to waters of a given stream is later
in time compared with the rights of another user, A senior appropriator is
a person whose right to waters of a given stream is prior in time compared
with the rights of another appropriator.

Aauifer A saturated water-bearing formation, or group of formations, which yield
water in sufficient quantity to be of consequence as a source of supply.

Basin Rank The relative seniority of a water right as determined by its date of
adjudication and the date of appropriation. The Basin Rank of a water right
determines its ability to divert in relation to other rights in periods of limited
supply, subject to the rule of the futile call.

Beneficial Aoolication or Use Amount of water that is reasonable and appropriate
under reasonably efficient practices to accomplish without waste the purpose
for which the appropriation is lawfully made. Uses recognized as beneficial
are domestic, agricultural, industrial, municipal, and recreational and
minimum stream flows filed by the state.

California Doctrine A legal doctrine retaining aspects of both riparian rights and the
principles of prior appropriation,