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<br />1989]
<br />
<br />WATER RIGHTS PROTECTION
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<br />87;
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<br />water may be appropriated and includes agricultural, municipal, in.
<br />dustrial, mining, and power uses; impoundments. for recreation and
<br />fishery uses; and the instream flow appropriations of the Colorado
<br />Water Conservation Board.,s9 The duty of the water right holder is to
<br />use or consume only that amount of water reasonably necessary for
<br />beneficial use and to release unused water for appropriation and use by
<br />others. Application of water to a beneficial use establishes the mea-
<br />sure of the water right. 190
<br />The quantity of water available for allocation pursuant to state
<br />law is circumscribed by interstate water compacts, equitable appor-
<br />tionment decrees, and federal reserved water rights. There is limited
<br />water available to each state that is located on an interstate stream
<br />system, because the law requires certain amounts of water to be passed
<br />for other states. 191 The daily business of the water court is to adjudi-
<br />cate the allocation of water quantities out of the available supply, to
<br />review changes of water rights, 192 and to examine plans for augmenta-
<br />tion, exchange, or replacementl93 in a manner that maximizes!94 water
<br />use and alleviates material injury to other water rights. Through adju-
<br />dication after adjudication, the water courts become familiar with the
<br />hydrology, engineering principles,195 decreed water rights, and inter-
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<br />City & County of Denvcr v. Northern Colo. Water Conservancy Dist., 130 Colo. 37.5, 387-89, 276 P.2d
<br />992.999 (1954) (storage right).
<br />189. Strickler v. Colorado Springs, 16 Colo. 61. 68, 26 P. 313, 316 (1891) (agricultural use); City
<br />& County of Denver v, Sheriff, 105 Colo. 193, 203-04, 96 f.2d 836. 841-42 (1939) (municipal use);
<br />Lamborn v. Bell, 18 Colo. 346, 351, 32 P. 989, 99()..91 (1893) (mining/industrial use); see also Zigan
<br />Sand & Gravel, Inc. v. Cache la Poudre Water Users Ass'n. 758 f.2d 175 (Colo. 1988) (recreational
<br />use); Colorado River Water Conservacion Dist. v. Colorado Water Conser...ation Bd" 197 Colo. 469,
<br />.594 P.ld .570 (1979) (instream flow use).
<br />190. See Weihert v. Rothe Bros.. Inc., 200 Colo. 310, 316-17, 618 P.2d 1367, 1371~72 (1980).
<br />191. Colorado is party to nine interstate compacts and is subject to several equitable apportion-
<br />ment decrees. See Animas-La Plata Project Compact, 82 Stat 88.5 (1968); Amended Costilla Creek
<br />Compact, 77 Stat 3.50 (1963); Arkansas Ri...er Compact, 63 Stat. 145 (1949); Upper Colorado River
<br />Compact, 63 Stat. 31 (1949); Republican River Compact, 57 Stat. 861 (1943); Rio Grande River Com-
<br />pact, 53 Stat. 785 (1939); South Platte River Compact, 44 Stat. 195 (1926); La Plaia River Compact, 43
<br />Stal. 796 (1925); Colorado River Compact, 42 Stat. 171 (1921); see a/so Colorado v. New Mexico, 467
<br />U.S. 310, 2433 (1984); Colorado v. New Mexico. 459 U.S. 176 (1982); Nebraska.... Wyoming. 325 U.S.
<br />589 (l945); Wyoming v. Colorado. 259 U.S. 419 (1922).
<br />192. See Farmers Highline Canal & Reservoir Co. \/. City of Golden. 272 P.2d 629, 631-32 (Colo_
<br />1984); Shawcroft v. Terrace Irrigation Co.. 138 Colo. 343, 333 P.2d 1043 (J958).
<br />193. See COLO. REV. STAT. ~~ 31-92-103(9), -305(8) (1913); Kelly Ranch v_ Southeastern Colo.
<br />Conservancy Dist., 191 Colo. 65, 550 P.2d 297 (1976); Cache la Poudre Water Users Ass'n .... Glacier
<br />View Meadows, 191 Colo. 53, 550 P.2d 288 (Colo. 1976).
<br />194. The Colorado Water Right Determination and Administration Act of 1969 provides that "it
<br />is the policy of the state to integrate the appropriation, use. and administration of underground water
<br />tributary to a stream with use of surface water in such a way as to maximize the beneficial use of all of
<br />the waters of this state." Cow. REV. STAT. ~ 31-92-102{I)(a) (1973).
<br />19.5. See Rice, Engineering and Hydrologic Issues in Changinl( Waler Uses. in TRAOITIn"" Ji-IN,",_
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