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<br />attached, identify the principles which apply to water transfers <br />in Colorado. <br /> <br />Powell emphasized building and operating water storage <br /> <br />structures as the necessary means for capturing, conserving, and <br /> <br /> <br />optimizing use of the West's water resources.~ Water storage <br /> <br /> <br />and conjunctive use of groundwater are the primary modern means <br /> <br />by which junior users can be integrated into the priority system <br />of water rights while respecting senior rights. Scarcity of <br />supply is aggravated when storage is not available. Conversely, <br /> <br />storage extends the availability of water to uses, and at times <br /> <br />of the year, which cannot be served due to natural hydrology. <br />Critics of the prior appropriation doctrine disparage that <br /> <br />system's preference for protecting pre-existing uses. These <br />"reformers" extol water redistribution to achieve "equity". As <br /> <br />currently utilized in this context, "equity" appears to be a <br />concept for effectuating water redistribution from prior uses <br /> <br />(principally to serve in-channel uses such as recreation, aquatic <br />life, preservation of natural ecosystems, and other chosen <br /> <br /> <br />newly-defined "public purposes" chosen by the government) without <br /> <br /> <br />compensation necessarily being paid to the existing users. This <br /> <br /> <br />school of advocacy disfavors water storage as a means to optimize <br /> <br /> <br />availability of water to meet competing demands.~ <br /> <br />~ John Wesley Powell, Lands of the Arid Regions of the United <br />States, supra, at 12-13. <br /> <br />16 See Law Review Forum debate entitled "Long's Peak Report: <br />Reforming National Water Policy", 24 Envt'l. L. 125-188 (1994). <br /> <br />7 <br />