PUB00133

• Year: 1990
• Title: Western Water Transfers: Public Interest Impacts
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: Larry Morandi
• Description: Examination of the public interest impacts of western water transfers
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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JURISDICTION OP THE WATER COURT

Approval of a change in a water right in Colorado has to be
processed through the water courts -- most other western states
initiate such changes through an administrative procedure, using
the courts as a forum for appeaL Thus, development of
information regarding impacts of a transfer of water from one
basin to another colorado is structured within a legal context -
data/evidence supporting one side versus data/evidence supporting
the opposing side. Often such a presentation of the issues and
supporting data/opinion regarding a proposed water transfer is
not readily available nor easily understood by the public and
water managers in public service.

As stated above, in consideration of an application to the
water court to change any of the conditions of a water right, the
sole issue of jurisdiction to the water court is property rights
and the only effects on other parties that the water court may
consider are the effects of the proposed change on other water
right holders.

Limitations?

A complaint often heard regarding the Colorado courts is the
cost to applicants and objectors of participation in the system.
Each side in a contested application must provide the court with
its own expert evidence, requiring each side to hire its own
engineers, hydrologists, etc. Under this system, the addition of
issues to be considered by the water court, beyond property
rights, would require the hiring of additional experts by each
side in a case: economists, sociologists, ecologists. This would

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