WSP01337

• File Number: 8051
• Description: Area of Origin
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 10/1/1985
• Title: Addressing the Area of Origin Problem - A Research Report Prepared for the Colorado Water Resource Research Institute
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

DRAFT

approach in such matters.48 According to Sax:

In New York the cost of diversion is made
even greater by a statutory provision which,
in addition to allowing compensation to the
owners of riparian land, requires that the
owner of any real estate taken by the citi
which has been directly or indirectly
decreased in value by the execut:ion of any
plans for additional water supply ~y the city
shall have the right to recover damages for
such decrease in value. This' provision
guarantees compensation to nonriparians who
have made use of the river, as well as to
business and property owners whose values are
diminished simply by the fact tha~ the use of
the river is affected.49 I
I
The courts have taken a broad view of the interests that may be

compensable under this provision.

, I.
Compensation recognizes that the dlverSlon of water from an

area entails real costs and that offsett'ing payments may be

devised that will benefit the exporting are~ and leave it better

off as a result of the diversion. .Inclusion of these payments in

the cost of the diversion better reflects the true cost of the

project. Water is not artificially reserved for unknown future

uses.SO

At the same time, there are a number of problems

associated with the compensation approach.

In the absence of a

market, who determines what the costs of the diversion are and

how much compensation should be pa id? What form should the

48Administrative Code of the City of New York, KSl-44.0.

49Joseph to, Sax, Water Law, Planning and pOlicy (Bobbs-
Merrill, 1968) at 200.

SOOf course, the Colorado approach of building compensatory
storage reservoirs does have the effect oE apparently dedicating
this water to as yet unknown West Slope uses.

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