Resolution of the CWCB South Platte River Policy

• Description: South Platte River Recovery Implementation Program
• State: CO
• State: NE
• State: WY
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 3/27/2001
• Title: Resolution of the CWCB South Platte River Policy
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Contract/Agreement

RESOLUTION OF THE COLORADO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD
SOUTH PLATTE RIVER POLICY
March 2001
The Colorado Water Conservation Board hereby adopts a policy concerning the obligations of
the State regarding endangered species located in the Platte River basin in Central Nebraska. The
Colorado Water Conservation Board finds that:
The State of Colorado is signatory to the South Platte River Compact, C. R.S. § 37 -65-
101 et. seq., executed on behalf of the State on the 27 day of April, 1923. The South
Platte River Compact divides and apportions the waters of Lodgepole Creek and the
South Platte River between the State of Colorado and the State of Nebraska.
2. The State of Colorado is subject to a decree of the United States Supreme Court regarding
the use of the waters of the North Platte River. Nebraska v. Wyoming, 325 U.S. 589, 65
S.Ct. 1332, 89 L.Ed. 1815 (1945) as amended or as it maybe amended.
The South Platte River Compact and the decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming limit the use of
the waters of the South Platte and North Platte Rivers within the State of Colorado.
4. The State of Nebraska, in the case of the South Platte River, and the States of Wyoming
and Nebraska, in the case of the North Platte River, are entitled to use such waters of the
South and North Platte Rivers, respectively, which flow out of the State of Colorado in
accordance with the requirements of the South Platte River Compact and the decree in
Nebraska v. Wyoming.
All water which is not required to flow out of Colorado under the South Platte River
Compact and the decree in Nebraska v. Wyoming is available for diversion and beneficial
use within the State of Colorado.
The State of Colorado is signatory to the 1922 Colorado River Compact and 1948 Upper
Colorado River Compact under which Colorado may use such waters within the State of
Colorado pursuant to Colorado Water Law. By law, water users have the right to use,
reuse and successively use to extinction water imported from the Colorado River into
other river basins within the State of Colorado.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the whooping crane, piping plover,
least tern, and pallid sturgeon under the federal Endangered Species Act, and has
designated critical habitat for the whooping crane pursuant to the Endangered Species