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<br />store, and use a certain amount of water by appropriation from a <br />natural stream for a beneficial use or uses, Coffin v. Left Hand <br />Ditch Co., 6 Colo. 443 (1882); Harvev v. Davis, 655 P.2d 418, 422 <br />(Colo. 1982). A conditional water rights decree can be obtained, <br />through proceedings in Colorado water court, for the purpose of <br />maintaining priority of appropriation while engineering, <br />permitting, and construction of a water project are being <br />pursued, Rocky Mountain Power Co. v. Colorado River Water <br />conservation District, 646 P.2d 383, 387 (Colo. 1982). When the <br />water is actually put to beneficial use, an absolute decree for <br />the water right can then be obtained, Fort Lyon Canal Co. v. <br />Amity Mutual Irriqation Co., 688 P.2d 1110, 1113 (Colo. 1984). <br />Water rights generally consist of two types, direct flow <br />diversion rights, involving a rate of flow expressed in cubic <br />feet per second, and storage rights, expressed in number of acre <br />feet of water, Colorado sprinqs v. Bender, 148 Colo. 458, <br />462-463, 366 P.2d 552, 555 (1961). <br /> <br />All rights to water within or tributary to natural <br />streams in Colorado ultimately derive from an original <br />appropriation of water and its placement to a beneficial use, <br />State v. Southwestern colorado Water Conservation District, <br />671 P.2d 1294, 1308 (Colo. 1983). Integration and consumptive <br />use of tributary groundwater and surface water for maximum <br />beneficial use is an express policy of the State, C.R.S. <br />37-92-102, under Colorado's 1969 Water Adjudication Act. An <br />appropriation occurs when the intent to appropriate merges with <br />an action sufficient to give notice of such intent, Bar 70 <br />Enterprises, Inc. v. Tosco Corp., 703 P.2d 1297, 1307 (1985). <br />Whether an appropriation has been made is a factual question for <br />determination in each case, City and County of Denver v.Colorado <br />River Water conservation District, 696 P.2d 730, 746 (1985). <br /> <br />Tying up conditional water rights for speculative <br />purposes is prohibited, Colorado Water Conservation District v. <br />vidler Tunnel Water Co., 197 Co. 413, 417, 594 P.2d 566 (1979). <br /> <br />-5- <br />