PROJ00190

• Contract/PO #: C153324
• Contractor Name: Breckenridge, Town of
• Water District: 0
• County: Summit
• Bill Number: XB 99-999
• Loan Projects - Doc Type: Feasibility Study

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III. WATER RIGHTS

A. BACKGROUND
As demand for water continues to increase in Colorado, high priority
must be placed upon securing adequate water supplies for the projected
growth of the Blue River Water District. Most of the historic irrigation
water rights in this area are now being used for municipal purposes with
the largest user being the Denver Water Board. In a majority of the cases,
the actual transfer of use from irrigation to municipal use has been
made. The seasonal rights associated with irrigation water require res-
ervoirs for storage; the Dillon Reservoir is used in this way by the
Denver Water Board.
The areas of the Blue River Water District are all relatively new and do
not have senior municipal year-round water rights, NC'\1 ju~ior rights
were filed on for the year-round flows. Most of these filings have been
decreed. The Blue River Water D'istrict adjudications carry appropria-
tion dates in 1968 and 1972 while those dates for a majority of the area
are in 1974 to 1978, In some cases, augmentiltion plans have been
established, but the important point is that most of the winter diver-
sions are being made under, junior decrees. Yet the availability of
water during the winter to the BluA River Valley and adjacent areas is
critical to their existence.

Even though the present diversion practices have been adequate, and the

junior decrees have never been called out, this situation may change due

to several factor's:

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