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<br />(}OJ74~ <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />water in this setting could quickly outstrip the quantity provided by a local stream, a new system had to be <br />devised to allocate the right to use the water, This was the origin of the prior appropriation doctrine, <br />The prior appropriation system of water allocation originally developed within the mining camps and <br />was similar to the practice of filing mining claims. In the early history of mining, the first person to occupy <br />and work a site established a legal claim to the mining rights on that site, Likewise, the first person to put <br />water to a productive use established the highest priority for water use from a given stream system. If the <br />water supply was limited, the earliest (most senior) appropriators had a right to claim their entire allocation of <br />water for beneficial use while those with later (more junior) appropriations received only what remained <br />This principle, which has come to be commonly referred to as "first in time, first in righl," became the basis <br />for water rights administration in much of the western United States, Although the principles of the prior <br />appropriation doctrine originally applied to water used for mining, they were qnickly adapted to use in <br />appropriating water rights for irrigation and other beneficial uses as the west was settled <br />Prior appropriation doctrine principles grew from local customs rather than established law, The doctrine <br />was so widely accepted in the newly settled regions of the West that it was gradually adopted by various state <br />courts and was incorporated into state statutes.. The Federal government formally recognized the concept of <br />prior appropriation in mining legislation passed in 1866 and 1870 and in the Desert Land Act of 1877, <br /> <br />Water Rights in Colorado <br />Colorado became the first state to formally adopt the doctrine of prior appropriation as the guiding <br />principle for water rights administration with the inclusion of the doctrine in the Colorado Constitution in <br />1876. This doctrine was adopted subsequently in various forms by eight other western states (Alaska, <br />Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) as the primary legal system for <br />administering water rights, Some states originally adopted the riparian doctrine and subsequently converted <br />to some form of prior appropriation; thus, both riparian and appropriative water rights are recognized. This <br />hybrid doctrine (also called the "California doctrine") is used in California, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, <br />North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Soull! Dakota, Texas, and Washington, Riparian principles are used to <br />regulate water rights in most of the remaining states, <br />The Colorado system of the prior appropriation doctrine is reliant upon the legal ownership of water <br />rights, A water right is based on diverting a given quantity of water at a sp~ified site under a specified <br />priority and applying the diverted water at an identified location for a defined purpose, Water rights can be <br />owned by individuals and a variety of entities including municipalities, water and sanitation districts, ditch <br />companies, and state and federal agencies, <br /> <br />6 <br />