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SECTION IV WATER RIGHTS AND WATER RESOURCES GENERAL A water district serving municipal water to customers has the obligation of furnishing water to its customer~ day after day, year after year, even in a series of dry years. To meet this obligation, the system must have the legal right to take the water at the time that it is most needed, and also the water must be in the stream to be taken. The diversion of water by the proposed Allenspark Water and Sanitation District would be from public streams, and, therefore, subject to the Jaws of the State of Colorado. At times when there is not sufficient stream flow to satisfy demands of all water users, the State would reg- ulate and control diversions of water from these streams. The State's authority is exercised by the State Engineer and his subordinate water officials. For purposes of water administration, the State of Colorado has a number of irrigation divisions. Within each division there are a number of water districts. Regulation within a District is a-ccompl ished by a Water Commissioner. The streams from which Allenspark will take its water are tributary to the North St. Vrain Creek, a tributary of the South Platte River. The St. Vrain Creek is within Irrigation Division #1 and Water District #5. District #5 is subject to South Platte River demands in District Nos. 2, 1, and 64, all the way to the State Line. The State regulates diver- sions on the basis of priorities which are decreed by the District Court in which the water was first appropriated, and put to beneficial use. Water rights with early appropriatio~ dates take precedence over rights of later dates. The court decrees establish a priority and also specify the permitted magnitude of diversion in terms of the rate of flow, or by volume of water in the case of storage rights. The St. Vrain Creek and the South Pl~tte River are allover-appropriated; that is, there are more water rights and more water demands than there is