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

to substantial uncertainty.

possible future uses of water must be forecasted, using

some type of .forecasting procedures or models.

Many states have

detailed sophisticated state economic models, like Colorado's

Forecasting and Simulation Model.

Such models permit forecasting

on a county or planning region basis, relating these forecasts to

credible national forecasts (such as the Wharton School Forecasts

or those of Data Resources, Inc.)

These models work reasonably

well in forecasting future levels of existing activities, but

they cannot invent activities not already on the scene.

The prior appropriation doctrine emphasizes present bene-

ficial use of water.

However, several western states now allow

state agencies to reserve water for certain future purposes.

Colorado law recognizes "conditional" water rights which an

applicant may obtain now for intended future use.96 To maintain

such rights, "due diligence" toward applying that water to a

beneficial use must be demonstrated to the water court every four

years.

Perhaps a more common way of reserving water for future

use is to acquire existing water rights and leave that water in

its current use until needed for new activities.97

Though

uncertain, future water uses must be considered. The analysis of

instream uses (b. above) is much the same, in that there may be

96For a recent discussion, see Hallford, Developments in
Conditional Water Rights Law, 14 The Colorado Lawyer 353 (1985).

97For a discussion of the inefficiencies of this system see
Williams, The Requirement of Beneficial Use as a Cause of Waste
in Water Resource Development," 23 Nat. Res. J. 7 (1983).

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