Laserfiche WebLink
<br /> <br />senior appropriators to satisfy the rights of the senior. In return, the suppliers may <br /> <br /> <br />take and use amounts of water equivalent to those supplied to the senior appropriator. <br /> <br /> <br />A practice of substitution or exchange may constitute an appropriative right and may <br /> <br /> <br />be adjudicated as any other right, <br /> <br /> <br />I I. Plans of AUl!mentation* <br /> <br /> <br />The most innovative plan contained in the 1969 act is the one for <br /> <br /> <br />augmentation, This is a detailed program to increase the supply of water availab]e <br /> <br /> <br />for beneficia] use by allowing a junior appropriator to replace the depletions to the <br /> <br /> <br />stream at a time and place that will overcome any injury to vested senior rights, <br /> <br /> <br />The junior appropriator may then divert water out of priority without curtailment. <br /> <br /> <br />To be valid, a plan for augmentation must be approved by the water court. <br /> <br /> <br />Because new municipal and industrial uses of water have the least seniority, <br /> <br /> <br />augmentation has become useful in the effort to integrate new development into the <br /> <br /> <br />water rights framework without causing undue disruption. <br /> <br /> <br />Severa] methods of replacing water have been used. The most widely used <br /> <br /> <br />one is the dry-up of acreage historically irrigated with water from re]iable water <br /> <br /> <br />rights: water which would have been lost to the stream system through transpiration <br /> <br /> <br />and evaporation is made available to replace depletions caused by the new use. <br /> <br /> <br />Transbasin return flows, where water from individual watersheds (river basins) are <br /> <br /> <br />put into others, are also a major source of replacement water. Other sources are <br /> <br /> <br />obtained by the development of new storage capacity and available non-tributary <br /> <br /> <br />water. <br /> <br />]2. Loss of Ril!hts <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado has no forfeiture statute where water rights are automatically lost <br /> <br /> <br />as a matter of law. Water rights may be lost through long periods of non-use. They <br /> <br /> <br />may also be lost in whole or in part by abandonment. Some states have statutes <br /> <br /> <br />whereby water rights that are not exercised for a specific period of time are <br /> <br /> <br />automatically lost. <br /> <br /> <br />Abandonment* is defined by statute: "The termination of a water right in <br /> <br />21 <br />