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~~ 2) if letters do appear in the priority, seniority is determined <br />by alphabetical order and numerical order. Allocation of water <br />from a stream is based on the priority of rights with senior <br />rights (i.e., a high priority right) entitled to receive their <br />full supply before junior rights (i.e., a low priority right) may <br />divert from a common water source. <br />Water rights can be transferred or conveyed as property <br />rights in the same way that land is transferred or conveyed and <br />can be abandoned when the appropriator intends to abandon the <br />water right and discontinues its use. The Colorado courts also <br />recognized the right to change the place and type of use for a <br />water right. However, as a prerequisite to changing the place or <br />type of use for a water right, the owner of the water right must <br />obtain a court decree permitting a deviation from the place or <br />type of use initially decreed to the water right. This judicial <br />determination is necessary to ensure that changes in the use of a <br />water right will not cause any injury to the vested water rights <br />of others. <br />The amount of water represented by a water right can be <br />measured either by flow or volume. A measurement by flow is <br />usually made in cubic feet per second (cfs). A measurement by <br />volume is made in acre-feet (AF). An acre-foot of water is the <br />amount of water contained in a one acre space, one foot deep. <br />Important terms and definitions concerning water rights are <br />found in Colorado law as follows: <br />I-4 <br />