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I I I CHAPTER lV WATER WATER RIGHTS I I I I I I I I I Colorado has a complex system of water administration and use. The system evolved from a mining and agriculturally based economy in which the demand for water often exceeded the supply. Because a major portion of the state's water is derived from melting snow high in the mountains it is not distributed equally in either time or place. The diversion and use of water is administered by the state under the Appropriation Doctrine which provides that the first in time is the first in right, subject to the physical availability of water and the ability to put it to beneficial use without waste. This use, however, is limited by agreements with other states downstream on Colorado's rivers. Appropriation Doctrine I I I I I I I In Colorado the use of surface water, including underground water tributary to the surface system, is administered by the state under the Appropriation Doctrine. The State Constitution protects the right of water users to appropriate the waters of natural streams according to a "first in time, first in right" doctrine, limited only by the amount of water physically available to those able to put it to beneficial use without waste. The legal determination of the status of water rights is based upon definition of the hydrologic situation. Colorado was admitted to the Union in 1876, and at that time officially declared the Appropriation Doctrine to be the sole basis for the allocation of state waters. The Doctrine is stated in the State Constitution as follows: "The water of every natural stream, not heretofore appropriated, within the state of Colorado is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the state, subject to appropriation as here- inafter provided." IV-1