PUB00105

• Year: 1999
• Title: Conference Proceedings: 24th Annual Gunnison Water Workshop
• CWCB Section: Administration
• Description: Theme of the workshop was Garden of Dreams v. High-Desert Reality
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

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D.

B.

Direct Flow vs. Storage Rights:

I. Direct flow water rights are those in which available water is applied
immediately to beneficial use.

2. Storage rights allow the retention of water for beneficial use later in time.

c.

In-Stream Flow and Minimum Lake Level Rights:

1. The Colorado Water Conservation Board ("CWCB"), a state agency, has
exclusive authority to appropriate water of natural streams and lakes for
minimum stream flows or for natural surface water levels to preserve the
natural envirorunent to a reasonable degree. C.R.S. ~ 37-92-102(3).

2. Minimum flows and levels constitute a "beneficial use" only for the CWCB.
C.R.S. ~ 37-92-103(4).

3. The CWCB's water rights are administered according to priority and may be
curtailed in order to satisfy senior rights, just like any other water right.

Transbasin Water Rights:

I. Transbasin water rights involve the diversion of water from one river system
for use in another.

2. Transbasin diversions are 100 percent consumptive with respect to the "basin
of origin." For the receiving basin, the water represents an entirely new
supply in addition to the native flow.

3. Transbasin water may be used, recaptured, reused, and successively used to
extinction. C.R.S. ~ 37-82-106; City of Thornton v. Biiou Irrigation Co.,
926 P.2d I (Colo. 1996).

E.

Reserved Water Rights:

I. The United States possesses "reserved water rights" to the extent necessary
to accomplish the primary purposes of a federal land reservation (e.g.,
national parks, forests, and monuments). See U.S. v. Jesse, 744 P.2d 491
(Colo. 1987); U.S. v. City and Countv of Denver. By and Throu~h Bd. of
Water Comr's, 656 P.2d 1 (Colo. 1982).

2. The priority date of the implied federal water right is the date of the land
reservation.

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