Laserfiche WebLink
<br />unknown future uses.5l <br /> <br />At the same time, there are a number of <br /> <br />problems associated with the compensation approach. <br /> <br />In the <br /> <br />absence of a market, who determines what the costs of the <br /> <br />diversion are and how much compensation should be paid? <br /> <br />What <br /> <br />form should the compensation take? To whom is the compensation <br /> <br /> <br />paid? These questions are addressed more fully below.52 <br /> <br />V. THE COLORADO APPROACH <br /> <br />A. General Colorado Doctrine <br /> <br />The seminal case of Coffin v. Left Hand Ditch Co.53 involved <br /> <br />a diversion of water out of one drainage into an adjacent <br /> <br />watershed. <br /> <br />To the argument that such a diversion was unlawful <br /> <br />the Colorado Supreme Court replied: <br /> <br />"In the absence of legisla- <br /> <br />tion to the contrary, we think that the right to water acquired <br /> <br />by priority of appropriation thereof is not in any way dependent <br /> <br />upon the locus of its application to the beneficial use <br /> <br />designed."54 <br /> <br />The Court went on to discuss the numerous benefits <br /> <br />resulting from a rule allowing the movement of water to locations <br /> <br />where it can be beneficially applied. <br /> <br />More recently, the Colorado Supreme Court aga in was pre- <br /> <br />sented with the question of the legality of out-of-basin diver- <br /> <br />5lOf course, the Colorado approach of building compensatory <br />storage reservoirs does have the effect of apparently dedicating <br />this water to as yet unknown West Slope uses. <br /> <br />52~ especially Section VI infra. <br /> <br />536 Colo. 443 (1882). <br /> <br />54Id. at 449. (emphasis in original). <br /> <br />21 <br />