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<br />" <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />830 P.2d 915. City of Thornton By and Through UtilitieS Bd. v. City of Fort Collins, (Colo. 1992) <br /> <br />Page 9 <br /> <br />requirements of C.R.C.P. 15(c) are essentially <br />notice requirements. Transposing the requirements <br />to a water dispute under the Act, for an amendment <br />to relate back to the date of an original water <br />application, the claim(s) in the amendment must <br />arise "out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence <br />set forth in the original" application. See C.R.C,P, <br />15(c). Because notice is the essential requisite for a <br />relation back, we hold that since the source, amount <br />and uses of Poudre River water claimed by the 1988 <br />amendments were the same as in the original <br />application, the 1988 water claims are claims arising <br />out of the conduct. transaction or occurrence set <br />forth in the 1986 application. <br /> <br />[2] In Bell, the dispositive factor was the source of <br />the water claimed. We denied a relation back in <br />that case because the water source designated in the <br />amendment was different from the water source <br />designated in the original application, 724 P.2d at <br />639. Because the source of the claimed water <br />differed, no notice was provided by the original <br />application to parties with interests in the water from <br />the new source designated in the amendment. See <br />Park Center Water Dist. v. United States, 78] P.2d <br />90, 97-98 (Colo. 1989). Here, in contrast, there is <br />no significant disparity '923 between the 1986 <br />application and the 1988 amendments as to the <br />named source of the water. The water source <br />named and legally described in the 1986 application <br />was that segment of the Poudre River known as the <br />Corridor. The water source named and legally <br />described in the 1988 amendments was the Poudre <br />River at specific points within the Corridor. Thus, <br />the effect of naming the Corridor as the source of <br />the water claimed in the 1986 application was not <br />only to place those parties with interests or potential <br />interests in that segment of the Poudre on notice but <br />also to place those parties with interests or potential <br />interests in specific points within that segment of the <br />Poudre on notice. lhat the latter were placed on <br />notice is indicated by the fact that no new parties <br />filed statements of opposition to the 1988 <br />amendments. All interested parties were alerted by <br />the 1986 application, and the fact that the notice was <br />perhaps overinclusive is not a defect. <br /> <br />Thus, Thornton's argument, that the conceptual <br />difference between a minimum stream flow with no <br />diversions and two discrete diversions with no <br />minimum stream flow precludes a relation back, is <br />not persuasive. Even assuming that a minimum <br />stream flow is of an entirely different legal character <br /> <br />than a diversion, it is possible nonetheless that one <br />can be put on notice of another's intent to <br />appropriate a definite amount of water from a <br />sufficiently definite source even when the claimed <br />water right is artlessly or even impermissibly <br />characterized as a minimum stream flow rather than <br />a diversion, Cf Board of County Comm'rs v, <br />Collard, 827 P.2d 546, 552 (Colo.1992) (when <br />published resume notice suggests that the " <br />'applicants were seeking to appropriate substantial <br />flows of various segments of the named streams, <br />[such] fact alone would raise a red flag (inquiry <br />notice) to any person interested in water in the- <br />subject streams' "); Closed Basin Landowners Ass'n <br />v, Rio Grande. 734 P.2d 627, 633 (Colo. 1987) <br />("The concept of the Closed Basin Project was not <br />the appropriation of water from many discrete <br />points, but a diversion of water from the entire area. <br />The content of the published resume gave reasonable <br />notice that the points of the proposed diversion <br />would consist of the entire area.... "); City and <br />County of Denver v. Colorado River Water <br />Conservation District, 696 P.2d 730. 751 <br />(Cola, ]985) ("an absence of a precise location [of <br />points of diversion] does not automatically preclude <br />a conditional decree. A would-oe appropriator must <br />give some notice to others of the claim upon the <br />water from a particular source to establish a <br />conditional water right; locating the diversion points <br />with absolute specificity is not required. "). Viewed <br />as a reasonably prudent party, )hornton " 'ought to <br />have been able to anticipate or should have expected <br />that the character of the original pleaded claim <br />might be altered or that other aspects of the conduct, <br />transaction, or occurrence set forth in the original <br />pleading might be called into question.' " Bell, 724 <br />P.2d at 638 (quoting 6 Wright & Miller, Federal <br />Practice and Procedure: Civil 9 1497 at 498-99 <br />(1971)). (FN1) <br /> <br />[3] We conclude that Thornton was on notice, as <br />of at least December 31. 1986, that Fort Collins <br />intended to appropriate 55 cfs of Poudre River water <br />from within the established limits of the Corridor for <br />municipal, recreational and piscatory purposes. We <br />thus reject Thornton's second ground in support of <br />its argument that the 1988 amendments cannot be <br />found to relate back to the 1986 application, namely, <br />that the 1986 application was of dubious legality. <br />An allegation that a claim for a conditional water <br />right is illegal because it claims a minimum stream <br />flow speaks to the issue of whether the right claimed <br />should be granted at all, not to the sufficiency of <br /> <br />Copyright (c) West Group 1999 No claim to original U,S. Gov!. works <br />