JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

January 2006

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Colorado Supreme Court Limits Water District’s Change Application, Using Consumptive Use Analysis, to Acreage Irrigated at Time of Original Appropriation
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District v. Cache La Poudre Water Users Association

In this case, the Colorado Supreme Court considered the scope of a water right owned by the Central Colorado Water Conservancy District and its Ground Water Management Subdistrict (Central). Central filed applications in Water Court requesting a change in use of the water right it holds in the William R. Jones Ditch Company. The Court limited the requested change under a ditch-wide consumptive use analysis to only those acres that were irrigated at the time of the original appropriation, as opposed to including additional irrigated acreage that came under production after award of the initial decree for the Jones Ditch.