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<br /> <br />suggests a strategy in which the choice between <br />new water projects and the protection of <br />instream flows could sometimes be resolved <br />through the acquisition of conditional water <br />rights in the marketplace, and through the <br />change of those water rights to instream flow <br />protection. . An analogous strategy may be <br />possible in other western states depending on <br />their approach to conditional water rights. <br />II. What Are Conditional Water Rights? <br />A. The Colorado law of conditional water rights is <br />thoroughly reviewed by Hallford in Development <br />of Conditional Water Rights Law, The Colorado <br />Lawyer, 353-362 (March 1985). This article is <br />a.ttached to this outline with the permission of <br />The Colorado Lawyer, as Appendix A. <br />1. A conditional water right is a "right to <br />perfect a water right with a certain <br />priority upon completion with reasonable <br />diligence of the appropriation upon which <br />such water right is to be based." C.R.S. <br />Section 37-92-103 (6) . <br />2. Thus when there is some time between the <br />first step of a plan to put water to use <br />and the completion of that plan, the <br />priority of the appropriation or water <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />